


Be Your Own Hero

by CatelynTsukino



Series: Endgame Stories [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Badass normal, F/M, Non-American Reader, Psychologists & Psychiatrists, Roman Catholicism, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:55:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 36,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25023535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatelynTsukino/pseuds/CatelynTsukino
Summary: You lost all your family and most friends in The Decimation. Refusing to believe their deaths are permanent, you dedicate years to find a way to reverse it. When you finally find something that might help, you reach out to the Avengers.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Scott Lang/Hope Van Dyne, Sif/Thor (Marvel), Steve Rogers/Reader, Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Series: Endgame Stories [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1811425
Comments: 8
Kudos: 31





	1. Journey

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr in December 2019. You can find me at mymarvelbunch.  
> This is my first imagine, and it's mostly about an ordinary woman being a badass xD I'll post the main story and its sequel all here, to make things easier for you!  
> Features major changes in Avengers: Endgame.
> 
> Notes:  
> Y/N = your (first) name  
> Y/L/N = your last name  
> Y/Co = your country  
> Y/Ci = your city  
> Y/N/L = your native language (can be easily ignored if you speak English)

_A week after The Decimation_

A huge memorial was prepared for every inhabitant of Y/Ci who dusted away. It was raining, as if Mother Nature was mourning with them. You stood in the far back, black umbrella open, all by yourself. There weren’t many people to keep you company. The few friends who survived had family members to stay with.

The vice-mayor (who was actually mayor now, since the old one was gone) made a heartfelt speech in honor of the fallen ones, but you barely paid any attention to it. Mentally, and in whispers, you recited the names of all the loved ones you lost: your mother, your father, your two older siblings, your sister-in-law, your only uncle and his wife, your 5-year-old cousin, your 89-year-old grandma who blissfully escaped Alzheimer’s. You had around forty friends, close and not-close, but now only twelve remained, and only two of them could be called close friends. Not to mention your college class, cut down from 48 to nine. You haven’t even counted the college staff.

It was surreal. Mass extinctions have happened before in history, but not like this. This wasn’t natural. The Avengers have called international press to explain what happened, but for most it was hard to understand.

For most. Not for you.

You searched Captain America’s video with the full, most detailed explanation and watched a dozen times, writing everything he said down. Apparently, an alien ingrained with Malthusian mentality used powerful items to wipe out half of the universe, believing that it would delay civilization’s self-destruction due to lack of resources. At one point he slipped the term ‘infinity stones’.

You haven’t had time to search about those ‘stones’ or anything else from the video (like the alien’s name, Thanos), but you fully intended to. Because there was surely a way to bring everyone back. Their deaths were result of magic (or whatever they called it), and magic can be reversed.

You refused to believe your family was lost forever.

You refused to believe that so many lives, families, hopes, dreams and achievements were gone for good.

There had to be a way out. And, while she hoped the Avengers would find a way, you decided to take matters into your own hands too. Everyone was mourning; you had the ‘advantage’ of having no one to comfort, meaning more time in your hands.

The memorial ceremony was over. After most people left (around two hours later), you walked over to where your family’s names were. “Mom, Dad”, you whispered, “I’ll do everything in my power to bring you back. I promise.”

* * *

_A year later_

Your graduation party was small and intimate. Your dusted classmates were properly honored, and, thanks to everyone having got closer in the following year, you all had a good time together. It was, overall, incredibly sweet.

You were now a doctor. Not so long ago, you’d be overjoyed by finally getting your medical degree. You were still happy, but the feeling was overshadowed with grief. You wish your family was there to celebrate with you.

At least your two close friends were there. They even brought their remaining parents to help cheer you up.

But now, you had a task: work to save money to keep your research.

The year had been productive, especially given the mess that was college. Thanks to Black Widow’s leaks from 2014, you progressed rapidly.

The so-called Infinity Stones had a few mentions, notably concerning the Battle of New York in 2012. The ‘Tesseract’, which seemingly fell in that category, had been mentioned in SHIELD files since the 50s; apparently, Captain America himself had come in contact with it in his war time. There is a mention of a Captain Marvel and the Tesseract in the 1995 files, but all were vague, as if SHIELD itself didn’t know who were dealing it. Probably an alien.

There was a mention of an Aether in 2013, which seemed powerful enough to be an Infinity Stone. The leaked files, obviously, ended in mid-2014, meaning there is nothing on the incident on Sokovia.

News sites and channels mentioned that the AIs created by Tony Stark had been powered by ‘an unknown object that seems to be a remain of the alien invasion of 2012’. There was no description, but there were pictures of Vision that featured a glowing yellow round-shaped thing. There was no way to be sure, but you’d guess it was also an Infinity Stone. Besides, Captain America’s announced that Vision was destroyed by Thanos right before the Decimation. Wouldn’t it be reasonable that the alien did that to steal a Stone?

Of course, you were far from being the only person researching on the Infinity Stones. In fact, so many were doing it that the Avengers (Natasha Romanov this time) had to make a press conference for a few statements:

  1. There were no Infinity Stones in their possession.
  2. They would not confirm nor deny whether they were ever in possession of a Stone or not.
  3. As it was too dangerous, they would also not disclose information on the Stones.



It meant you had to hack into… somewhere to find more information. That held you back, since you didn’t have time to learn hacking abilities and finish college at the same.

Now that you graduated, you had more free time in your hands. You’d work few hours a week, enough to get money to survive. All your family’s inheritance belonged to you, which granted you more than enough money for you self-assigned mission.

Seating down, you opened your computer and started the next step of your research.

* * *

_Early 2020_

Hacking was useful, but not in the way you expected.

There was little new information concerning Thanos and the Infinity Stones. Most things you found were conspiracy theories, most of which were absurd and didn’t match the knowledge you already had.

However, Deep Web proved useful in one thing: you found out about the Mystic Arts and its Masters.

Information was vague and of questionable reliability, but you managed to gather that they possessed knowledge of many things ancient and alien. You also managed to find out their nearest temple’s location: Y/Ci! Ha! There was even an address!

It was near Valentine’s Day, meaning streets were crowded. You decided it was the best moment to search for that temple (which they called Sanctum). The best to hide, in your opinion, was in a big crowd.

Your first place of search was the given address, of course. Its street was crowded as hell, since it was a commercial one, full of shops that were perfect for buying valentine gifts. Good thing you didn’t find a boyfriend; there was no one to distract you from your goal.

(Were you obsessed? Maybe.)

The number on the address belonged to an oriental-styled house, something not really common in Y/Ci. You knocked on the door of the supposed tarot-reading house, hopeful that there was more about that place.

“Good morning, miss”, the woman who opened the door said. “Are you here for tarot reading?”

You took a deep breath and said, in a low voice, the sentence you read as being the password for entering a Sanctum: “Oh, I’d love to know if I was a Titanic victim in my past life.”

(God, it was such a ridiculous phrase. That was probably why they picked it; not even an insane person would willingly say that in a tarot house.)

The woman arched her eyebrows. You bit your lip, waiting for her to call a psychiatric ambulance, but she simply smiled. “Follow me, sister.”

You released your breath.


	2. Sanctum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope is found, among other things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a (very brief) mention of guns in this chapter.

You were guided through a huge number of corridors. The house was much lager than it looked on the outside; probably a result of magic. Eventually, the woman stopped by a large door. She opened it slowly and gestured for you to get in. “The Master is waiting for you.”

Waiting for you? Now that was interesting. You thanked the woman and got in, hearing the door closing behind you.

A red-haired woman, who looked to be 50 years old, was sitting down in a brown and green carpet at the center of the big room. “Welcome, Y/N. I’ve been expecting you for some time.”

You blinked and took a few steps in her direction. “You knew I was coming.” It wasn’t a question, but she answered anyway.

“Yes. And I know why you are here.” The woman smiled and stood up. “Normally, I wouldn’t let anyone enter the Sanctum just like that, but I see great promise in you, Y/N Y/L/N. Let me guide you to our library.”

You followed her, awed by her words. You had expected a lot of obstacles in your way to get to the Sanctum; it was a secret order, after all. But the Master herself was leading you to the place where you could get all your answers. It seemed too good to be true.

“With all due respect, ma’am”, you said as you walked through more corridors, “How can I trust this is not a trap?”

She stopped walking and turned to look at her. “You are wise to suspect it. It all seems so easy, right? But remember all your effort to find out about this place. Besides, there isn’t much else you can do now but follow me, is there?”

You nodded. She was right; you had to trust her if you wanted to make any progress. Also, what was the worst thing that could happen? _Death_?

It wasn’t like you had much to live for. You wanted to live, sure, but you wanted even more to bring your family back. It was worth the risk.

After a few more turns, you reached an even larger door than the first one. The Master opened the door and got in with you. “Here”, she said, “you can find books on all information regarding magic that we know of. I can’t guarantee you will find everything you’ve been looking for, but I can help you finding the right books and manuscripts.”

“Why are you doing this?”, you asked politely. “You may have predicted my arrival, but how can you know I’ll use this information for good?”

The Master smiled softly. “I don’t _know_ , exactly. I’m not in possession of the Time Stone, so my powers are a bit limited, and they have weakened shortly after the Decimation, for reasons I’d rather not tell you now. But I have enough power to be sure of your good heart, Y/N. I can’t predict whether you’ll be successful or not, but I’m sure you are on our side. I have faith in you to do what none of us have had the cleverness or the courage to do.”

That said, she started walking. Too stunned to reply, you followed her.

* * *

_January 2021_

The Master, who politely refused to give you any other name to call her, was true to her word. All writings regarding alien life and the Infinity Stones were handed to you, and you even had your own room. Other sorcerers showed up every now and then to offer you food and water. Always surprised by their kindness, you couldn’t help but ask why.

“The Master has been mentioned your arrival since last year”, they’d say. “She said you were a sign of hope. If she trusts you, so must we.”

It all seemed so easy, and you were overwhelmed with gratitude. Many times you asked how you could thank the Master for such generosity. Her reply was always the same: “Save the universe, Y/N. There is no need to do anything else.”

Of course, ‘save the universe’ was no easy task, but the Master’s faith in you strengthened your resolve to reach the bottom of the mystery behind the Decimation, and find a way to reverse it.

Your reading was slow. Despite all the help, and despite having quit your job to fully dedicate yourself to your research, the sorcerers couldn’t be with you all times, and half of the writing wasn’t in Y/N/L, but in freaking _Sanskrit_. Google Translate wasn’t the most reliable way, but sometimes the only one to find out what the texts said. So far you gathered the following information:

  * There were six Infinity Stones: Time, Space, Mind, Reality, Soul and Power. They were created along with the universe itself.
  * The Stones were somewhat sentient, though the extent of this was still unknown.
  * The Tesseract was the Space Stone. The Aether was the Reality Stone. Vision had been powered by the Mind Stone.
  * It is unknown how any of the aforementioned Stones ended up on Earth, even though there are mentions of the Tesseract since World War II.
  * The whereabouts of the Soul and Power Stones were unknown. They likely had never taken to Earth until Thanos’ arrival.
  * The Time Stone, which the Master had mentioned on your first day, had been in possession of the Masters of the Mystic Arts since Medieval times.
  * The last known guardian of the Time Stone had been Stephen Strange, a former neurosurgeon who lived in New York. According to the Master, Tony Stark witnessed his death and said he was a victim of the Decimation. His testimony was trusted by Strange’s sorcerer colleague. It was unknown how exactly the Time Stone was stolen; Stark didn’t tell.
  * Until mid-2016, said Stone was guarded by a woman called Ancient One. The Master said information on her was unlikely to be useful, so you didn’t try to find more.
  * If one gets all six Stones and manages to conceal their powers somehow, it is possible to make any wish.



It was useful information, and it gave you hope. The last point explained why Thanos had to gather all Stones to do what he did, but it also opened a possibility. If you (or anyone else, for that matter) managed to get back the Stones, you could use them to wish for everyone who was dusted to be brought back.

Now, what could you do to get them?

Suddenly you remembered something the Master said on your first day. Her powers got weaker shortly after the Decimation, for reasons she’d “rather not tell” you then. Would she be willing to tell you now? There was only a way to find out.

The next time a sorcerer came to your room, a young man this time, you asked to be taken to the Master. Nodding, he guided you to her room. The Master seemed to be meditating, but showed no trouble in your sudden arrival. She was probably waiting for you, you thought.

“Good afternoon, Y/N”, she said. You greeted her back. “How may I help you?”

You sat down on the carpet in front of her. “Master, you told me your powers have weakened shortly after the Decimation, though not _immediately_ after. You said you knew why, but wouldn’t tell me on my first day. Would you be able to tell me now?”

The Master smiled softly, like she always did when talking to you. “First, tell me what you’ve learned so far.”

You told her all your findings, and the conclusions you reached thanks to them. “I don’t think I’d be able to do this alone, of course, but… if I find the Stones, figure out a way to conceal their powers… I’d make a wish. For everyone to be brought back.”

“But what about Thanos? Don’t you think he’d try to re-do what you reversed?”

“Well, we don’t even know if this guy is still alive. If he is… I’m not fond of the idea of killing someone, Master, but maybe there is a way to permanently prevent Thanos from getting the Stones again.”

The Master nodded, but asked no further questions on that matter. She probably didn’t agree with you, but… well. Like you said, you probably wouldn’t do it by yourself.

“I think you are ready for the answer, Y/N. The reason behind my weakened powers is because the Time Stone no longer exists as it used to.”

You frowned. Was that a riddle? “I’m sorry, but could you explain it a little better for me, Master?”

“I am not much well-versed in the Stones, Y/N. I became a Master rather recently, and before that my studies were focused on other matters of the Mystic Arts. Some of what you told is new information for me, I must admit. However, what I _know_ is that someone attempted to destroy the Time Stone, and likely the others as well.”

You took a deep breath. It couldn’t be. “But your powers have only weakened, not disappeared. It means the Stone is still out there.”

“Yes, Y/N, but I’m afraid it’s not in its natural form.”

You stood up. “There must be some information on what happens if you try to destroy a Stone”, you concluded. “The Stones are responsible for the universe’s balance and its very existence. If the universe still stands, the Stones are still present.” A pause. “You said Stephen Strange’s colleague survived the Decimation. Do you think we’d be able to contact them?”

The Master nodded. “What would you like me to ask?”

“If they know what happened to the Stones, and what happens if someone tries to destroy them. In the meantime, I’ll try to find the answers myself. Please, Master.”

The Master assured you she’d try to reach the other sorcerer soon. Pleased, you thanked her and headed back to your room.

* * *

_Four months later_

You gathered more information on the Stones, but not what you truly wanted to know. The New York sorcerer didn’t know much either. All he knew, thanks to an Avenger he didn’t name, was that Thanos left Earth with the Stones even before people started to become dust.

So far, you found no records on attempts to destroy the Stones. There were only notes on the dangers of an ordinary human being coming in contact with them; apparently, the only safe Stone was Time, out of the four that had been on Earth at one point or another.

Eventually, all writings were read and translated, and you still didn’t have the information you were looking for. But you couldn’t give up. You’ve been on this for nearly three years now, and you were closer than ever; you wouldn’t give up simply because one piece of information was missing.

If only it wasn’t the most important piece require to find the Stones… you’d have already boarded a plane to find the Avengers with what you already had.

You began to take the book and manuscripts back to the library, putting them back in place carefully. As you left to get another portion (you got a lot of documents), a section caught your attention: Physics.

At that point, anything could be useful, so you headed to that section. It had been years since you actually studied Physics (it wasn’t a subject in Med School), so you’d probably have trouble understanding it, but at least almost all books were written in Y/N/L.

Near the end of the bookcase, you found some books about Quantum Physics. Your thoughts stopped abruptly. Where did you read that term before?

_Ant-Man’s suit is said to be based on Quantum Physics, which is what allows him to shrink and get big in the blink of an eye…_

_The Infinity Stones exist not only in macroscopic form, but also in quantum form, in the Quantum Realm, allowing them bring balance on all dimensions of existence._

You sat down on the library floor, ignoring the mild pain in your butt as you did so. That was the answer! If the Stones were physically destroyed, they could be found in the Quantum Realm! But how could you access it?

Scott Lang had been reported missing since the Decimation. He even featured on Buzzfeed Unsolved back in early 2019, after footage showed him and the Van Dyne family on the top of a building. Suited up as Ant-Man (no one really knew they were the same until the footage leaked), he entered a van and never came back, even after the Van Dyne were shown being dusted. The police searched the entire van, but there was no trace of Lang.

Many theorized he entered a machine that was inside the van, given it seemed Hope Van Dyne was working on a machine. Was she supposed to take him out and back to the world? If so, was he stuck somewhere?

At that moment, a thought overcame you:

_You had to get that van._

* * *

_August 2021_

The Master contacted other sorcerers around the world, and most agreed that your theory was plausible: the Infinity Stones could be in the Quantum Realm. Nobody knew how to safely reach it though, so that van was your biggest hope.

You went back into hacking. You knew Scott Lang had lived in California, and you managed to get a still of the footage with the van’s plate. It took you quite some time, but you finally found out where the van was stocked.

The Master offered to open a portal straight there, but you concluded that safest option was to go legally, by plane. You were already planning on breaking into the building and possibly steal that van; the less crimes you committed, the better. Besides, it was the United States you were talking about. One of the most paranoid nations in this world.

The plan was simple, though not easy: board a plane to Los Angeles, get a hotel room (previously booked of course, because the visa department always asked for hotel address beforehand) near the place where the was located, figure out to break into the building, do it, turn the van on and hope for the best.

It was a highly flawed plan, but the best you’ve got so far. If things went wrong and you were, say, deported, you could just ask the Master to open a portal straight to the Avengers facility and tell them your findings.

(Plan B should probably plan A, but you really wanted to get to the Avengers with everything ready. That way they’d be more inclined to take you seriously.)

Plane tickets were expensive, but spending a year in a temple without spending a single coin in basic needs helped you save money for that very moment. On your grandmother’s supposed 93rd birthday, you landed on Los Angeles.

As you expected, you were asked many questions about your intentions and when you planned to go back to Y/Co. You had bought a ticket back to Y/Ci for two months later and showed them. You also claimed that you were a tourist who planned on visiting all cities your late family had wanted to go. You had yet to book hotels for the other cities, could they please recommend you some?

Nobody suspected a thing, much to her relief.

The building where the van was located was near some famous restaurant, where some celebrities often had dinner at, so you presence on that street wasn’t suspicious at all. On your first night, you showed up at a restaurant across the building.

“All tables are reserved”, the waiter said. You were expecting that already.

“Is there any possibility of getting a free table tonight? I mean, even if I’m the last person to get in. My friend recommended this restaurant and I was looking really forward to it.”

The waiter sighed. “You should have made a reservation then, but if you are willing to wait…”

Exactly what you were hoping for. With luck, you’d have to wait all night to get a table ( _if_ you got one), which gave you a lot of time to watch the building and find out about its security.

As it turned out, after 11 PM there was only one guard, seemingly unarmed. It surprised you; weren’t Americans inclined to have guns everywhere? Maybe things had changed after the Decimation.

On midnight, the waiter came to you and said there was no way for them get you a table. You feigned sadness and thanked him for his kindness. You had gotten the information you came to find.

On the following night, you went to a theater nearby and watched the latest DC movie. You weren’t even looking forward to that one, but it was good way to pass time.

You left the theater past midnight. Perfect. You sneaked inside the building with surprisingly little trouble. Finding the van was slightly harder, since you didn’t want to use a lantern, but eventually you did.

Before beginning the challenge of turning the van on without its key, you inspected its entirety. Was there truly a machine inside? If it was an ordinary van, the footage would have been just a camera trick, and you’d have to find another way to get into the Quantum Realm - which would certainly require a trip to other planets, something you didn’t know if was possible or not. For seconds, you prayed for a machine to appear.

And appear it did, in the back of the van. There was even a panel with some buttons. It looked like something that came straight from the 80s, but you didn’t care. You pressed a couple buttons and waited. Suddenly the lights turned on and the machine started moving fast. You jumped to the side just in time.

The van doors opened and a human being was tossed out. You heard groaning and approached them. The building was still dark, but, thanks to the machine lights, you could see their face clearly.

It was Scott Lang. Ant-Man. Back from the dead.

Not exactly what you were expecting, but okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always found it strange that Thanos wished to destroy the Stone and they just… obeyed and self-destructed. This part features my theory on what actually happened, since it’s what makes the most sense to me.


	3. Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A road trip, and a meeting.

“So, you’re telling me it’s been three years since I got stuck”, Scott said after you finished your story. “Even though it felt like three hours for me.”

“To be fair, I had no idea of how much time had passed for you”, you said nonchalantly, as if you talked about these kinds of things everyday. Probably the shock hadn’t worn off. “Honestly, I just wanted to study your machine. Never in a million years I thought you’d still be alive.”

“Well, we have to get to the Avengers”, he said. “Are they still in New York?” You nodded. “Great. Let’s get on the road.”

In the end, they didn’t have to steal the van. You had to hide, of course, but the guard was so surprised to see Lang alive that he let them out without further questioning.

On the 3-day ride to New York City, you two introduced yourselves properly and discussed everything you both knew.

“My original plan was to steal the van, bring to the Avengers, ask them to figure out how to get inside the Quantum Realm and find the Stones in their quantic form”, you explained.

“Sounds extremely difficult, to be honest, Y/L/N”, he replied. “I think there is an easier way to achieve the same goal.”

“And that would be?”

“Like we established in the first couple minutes we met each other, time has passed differently for us. For me, it has only been three hours. Here, three years. If we find a way to enter the Quantum Realm at one point in time and leave it at another point in time…”

“We could travel to the past, get the Stones in their physical forms, come back to the present and make our own wish”, you finished for him.

He frowned. “I was thinking more along the lines of trying to stop Thanos before he makes his wish.”

You shook your head. You remembered reading about time travel when reading about the Time Stone. “That wouldn’t work. When we travel to the past or the future, we create alternate timelines. If we, say, kill Thanos in the past, nothing will change here, but we’ll create a dimension in which the Decimation never happened. Problem is, we have to do something that can change our present, not our clones’.”

It took a while, but he eventually nodded. “I’ll trust you. You’re the one who came to me with an informal PhD on Infinity Stones and magical things, so.”

“I also rescued you”, you added with a grin. He smiled back and thanked you once again. “And we’ll bring Hope back. We’ll bring everyone back. We’re closer than anyone has ever been so far.”

“Yeah. God, I hope you’re right.”

So did you.

* * *

_Three days later_

Finding the Avengers headquarters was easy with Scott driving. You had switched seats every four hours during the trip, but you asked him to drive all the way when they reached NYC, since he had been there before and knew the his way around much better than you, who had never even been the country before.

Hopefully one day you’d come back with your family. The city looked so beautiful, even if somewhat empty.

“You should wait in the car first”, he said when he stopped in front of the building. “They don’t know you, but if I manage to get in, I’ll bring you along.”

You nodded and waited. His greeting was awkward, like he didn’t really know what he was doing, but it wasn’t like you’d have done better. Eventually he was allowed to get his van inside, and you along.

At the room, there were two people waiting: Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow, and Steve Rogers, Captain America.

Suddenly it was hard to breathe. Scott introduced you while you took deep breaths to compose yourself. This was important. Extremely important. You couldn’t afford to ruin everything by fangirling.

“Y/N?”, Scott called. “I think it’s better if you begin to tell your tale. I kind of showed up only at the end, so.”

Right. Your story. You took another deep breath.

“Would you like to sit down?”, Steve Rogers offered. You nodded, and he guided you and Scott to a couch.

“Okay”, you began as you sat down, followed by the other three. “I began searching for the Infinity Stones as soon as I heard of them for the first time.” Rogers blinked at this, but didn’t say anything. You continued, “I desperately wanted to believe the Decimation wasn’t permanent, that we could bring its victims back, so I started working on finding out who Thanos was, what the Infinity Stones were, and how they were all connected. Long story short, because you probably know most of my initial discoveries anyway, I ended up in a Sanctum of the Mystic Arts.”

“They had dozens of books about the Stones, book and manuscripts. The temple Master had foreseen my arrival and had faith that I’d succeed. It was wonderful to hear that, of course, but I asked her how she knew that. She said that all sorcerers draw their powers from the Time Stone, even if they never came in contact with it.

“I spent a year inside the temple, studying the texts 24/7. I found a lot of things, but the one that gave me the most hope was when I discovered that, if one gather all Stones and conceal their power, they can make any wish.”

At that, Rogers interrupted you. “It sounds great, Y/L/N, but I’m afraid we can’t gather the Stones back.”

Romanov nodded. “Thanos destroyed the Stones in 2018, shortly after the Decimation. We managed to track him down and kill him, but it was too late.”

Thanos was dead already? Great. You didn’t have to fear that he’d try to reverse your wish if you succeeded. Instead of letting her face drop, like the two expected, you grinned.

“Oh, but remember what I said. The Master I met said she had foreseen my arrival thanks to powers granted to her by the Time Stone. If the Stone no longer exists, how could she have done that?” At Rogers and Romanov’s stunned expressions, you kept going. “She had sensed an attempt at destroying the Time Stone, yes, and we both guessed the other Stones received the same treatment. However, there is one thing about the them you probably don’t know: they exist both in physical _and_ quantum forms. If Thanos destroyed the physical forms, they still exist in the Quantum Realm. Proof of that is that the universe is still standing. No Stones, no universe.

“I remembered reading on Scott Lang, a.k.a. Ant-Man, on the internet. Many people wondered on his disappearance, since there is footage of his workmates turning to dust, but he is nowhere to be found, despite having been with them. Everyone knew Ant-Man’s abilities came from Quantum technology, so I assumed that, if I found the van he was last seen in, I could find a way to get inside the Quantum Realm.” You glanced at Scott. It was his turn.

He nodded. “Right. So, back in 2018, we - and by ‘we’, I mean Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, Hope Van Dyne and myself - we found a way to safely get inside the Quantum Realm, something that hasn’t been done before, like ever. Hope, she… she was supposed to pull me back, but she got dusted seconds before she could do it. It was Y/N who accidentally pulled me out, three days ago.”

“I’m sorry”, Romanov said. “Those must have been three long years.”

Scott shook his head. “That’s the thing. In the Quantum Realm, time goes differently. I didn’t get stuck there for three years, but for three _hours_.”

“We had a lot of time to discuss while driving here”, you continued, letting an yawn escape. “My original plan is not great, and impractical. I only kept going because it was my only hope. But I believe Scott’s idea is better.”

“It won’t be easy”, he said. “But it’s possible, at least, something we’re not sure Y/N’s original plan is. Well, our new plan consists in figuring out a way to create… a time heist. We enter the Quantum Realm in a point of time - the present - and get out in another.”

“The past”, you clarified. “I know it sounds crazy, but in theory, it’s possible. There were many studies on time travel when I read about the Time Stone. There have been attempts to do it before, only it was by magic instead of physics. We don’t have the magical item anymore, but we can figure out another way.”

A short silence. “And what would we do then? In the past?”, Rogers asked.

You took a breath. “When you travel back in time, you create… an alternate dimension. Our timeline wouldn’t be affected by changes in the past. Say, we kill Thanos in… 2014 or something. It won’t change a thing for us, but now there will be a timeline in which the Decimation never happened. What we _can_ do is, get the Time Stone from the past, bring them here, make our own wish and bring everyone back. Thanos is not even alive anymore to try to undo our wish.”

Rogers shook his head. “Honestly, ma’am, with all due respect, this is insane. How are we even supposed to trust you? Only Scott knows you and, frankly, he might be biased due to the fact that you rescued him.”

You bit your lip. You had predicted this would happen. “There is a Sanctum here, in New York. The sorcerer there can confirm almost everything, if not everything, I said. I have the address.”

Romanov asked to speak alone with Rogers, and two left the room. Scott looked at you. “They probably think it’s a trap.”

“I’ll _bring_ Wong here if I have to”, you replied instantly. “I spent _three years_ finding a way to bring my family and friends back. I won’t give up now because the Avengers think I’m HYDRA, or whatever.”

There must be have been something in your expression that frightened Scott, because he quickly looked away. “I believe you”, he said in a low voice. “I have to.”

And you understood. You had to believe in yourself, too.


	4. Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We won’t risk lives.”

In the end, you did have to bring Wong to the Avengers’ headquarters - without Scott, because Romanov and Rogers didn’t want to ‘risk anything’. At least Uber was cheap.

As soon as you identified yourself as an apprentice from Y/Co, who studied the Infinity Stones under a Master’s supervision, Wong recognized you. He asked you many things and agreed to confirm your story to the Avengers.

“Forgive me for my skepticism, sir”, Rogers said when Wong finished talking. “But I’m curious: if all Y/L/N said is true, why hasn’t any of your sorcerers come up with this idea before?”

“Because none of us had the idea of joining magic and science to do it”, Wong replied instantly. “Had Strange survived, I don’t doubt he’d have reached a similar conclusion. He and Miss Y/L/N are rather similar in that aspect.”

You were pretty sure he was praising you, so you thanked him. “If my task is done here”, he continued, “I’d like to go back to the Sanctum. I have important work to attend to.”

Rogers nodded and opened the door for Wong to leave. You offered to pay an Uber ride, but he said it wasn’t needed. When the doors closed, you turned to Rogers. “So, are you going to believe me now?”

He sighed. “I suppose so. Still, none of us have resources to create a… what you called it? A time heist. We’d need help.”

“So, we go get it”, Scott said. “Where is Tony Stark?”

* * *

_The following day_

Stark’s new home was a few hours away, so Romanov suggested they all got proper rest before getting on the road. You promptly agreed; you haven’t slept well since the day you boarded the plane to Los Angeles, nor eaten well for that matter.

Unfortunately, there was barely no food in the kitchen. Romanov apologized and blamed herself; she had postponed grocery shopping for quite some time now. “You can order something, though.”

“Maybe, if I knew how to. Or where to. I have no idea how delivery works here.”

She frowned. “Just like in any other city.”

“Yeah, any other _American_ city. I’m from Y/Co, I’ve never even used _dollars_ before this week.”

The former assassin raised her eyebrows. “Oh, you’re not from US. Well, neither am I, but I’ve learned how to order food online. What do you want?”

Eventually Rogers and Scott showed up hungry as well, so you ordered two big pizzas. While they waited, Romanov asked you about your life. You told her (and technically the men too) about your former job as a doctor, your deceased family and friends, and some of your journey to get what you were now. At one point, after the pizzas arrived, Rogers started asking about Y/Co, and you animatedly gave him details, glad to change the subject.

You wanted to ask them about their lives too, but refrained yourself. They were only asking so they could judge your character, not to make friends with you. At least, that’s what you believed.

You slept on where used to be Scarlet Witch’s room. There were few of her personal belongings, since she had taken most with her upon running away. Honestly, the lack of decoration was comforting; you didn’t think you’d be able to sleep well in among the reminders of a ghost.

Rogers took Scott’s van to the road, due to the machine inside. The ride was mostly silent, despite Scott’s attempts at conversation. You were all tense; Tony Stark was your best shot at putting your plan in motion.

You arrived in a big wood house in the middle of a small forest. Rich people, you briefly thought as you got out of the van and followed Rogers and Romanov to the house.

You recognized Stark from the news as you got closer. His hair was partially dyed blonde, and he was playing with a little girl. You smiled a little; you had read somewhere about his daughter Morgan Stark, and there she was.

Stark raised his head and made little attempt to hide his surprise. “Hello guys”, he said. “It’s been a while, huh?”

“We need your help, Tony”, Rogers said matter-of-factly.

Stark sighed and asked for his daughter to go inside. Then he stood up to face them - or rather, Captain. “Of course you do”, he said. “With what? And who are those?” He glanced at Scott, but set his eyes on you.

“You may not remember me”, Scott said, “I’m Ant-Man. I was on Cap’s side-”

“-On Germany. Yeah, I remember you now. Thought you were dead. And you?”

“I’m Y/N Y/L/N, Mr. Stark.”

“She’s kind of the reason we’re here”, Romanov added. Stark frowned and gestured for them to sit down.

* * *

_A two-hour explanation later_

At that point, they were all in the living room. Pepper Potts had joined them after letting Morgan play in her bedroom.

“I know it sounds crazy and impossible and surreal”, you said at the end. “And it’s probably a poorly written movie plot somewhere. But this… this is a real change. To bring everyone back. _Half the freaking universe_. Just… _please_ , Mr. Stark. Give it some thought.”

You felt tears threatening to fall, and then a hand on your shoulder. You turned to see Romanov looking softly at you. Behind her, Rogers had a soft look of his own.

Then you turned back to Stark, who sighed. “Look, there is a lot at stake here. I’m well aware of what we lost, but Morgan is not the only child born after the Decimation. Even though you are telling me time travel only creates alternate timelines, there is no telling nothing will truly change here. Are those children’s lives worth the risk?”

You took a breath. “Honestly, I haven’t thought of that, because in my mind they wouldn’t be at _any_ risk. At _all_. If we play our cards right, people will only notice we did something when people start to come back.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that, we go back in time, get the Stones, come back to same moment we left here, make our wish and _voila_! Everyone comes back. Your daughter wouldn’t even notice you were gone. No one would.”

A brief silence. “I need time. Not to think whether I’ll do it or not. But we have to find a safe way to travel back in time. We don’t even know if we’ll make it alive. Scott has survived, yes, but we don’t know if we can reproduce it.”

“Actually”, Scott interrupted, “it is possible. I wasn’t the first one to get stuck in the Quantum Realm.” He briefly told them about Janet Van Dyne, who also seemed to have been unable to tell how much time has passed.

“This Quantum Realm sounds like Narnia or something”, you mumbled, but Stark heard you.

“Exactly, Y/N. That’s why we need to make our safety top priority. _Only then_ we map our strategy. I won’t risk anyone’s lives.”

Rogers nodded. “Fair enough. How much time do you need? Do you need any help?”

“A month. Scott’s van has the machine that took him to the Quantum Realm, right? It’s gonna be useful. Don’t worry, I’ll get you a car to drive back to New York. Also, Scott’s experience on the machine will be useful, so I’d ask you to stay around. Do any of you know how to get in touch with Banner? He’d be a great help in this. Also, Nebula and the Raccoon. Is there any way to contact them?”

“The _Raccoon_?”, you mumbled. Scott look equally bewildered. Romanov, however, was unreadable.

“I get in touch with all of them on a weekly basis. It’ll take a while for them to get here, but it’s manageable. Anything else, anyone else?”

“I’d say our quasi-sorcerer over here, but honestly, Y/N, you look a little sick. I’d suggest you all to use the following month to gather as many allies as possible and get some training done. We don’t know what we’ll find in this time travel thing. We all need to be prepared.”

You looked down at yourself. While you couldn’t notice anything alarming, Stark wasn’t wrong. In the year you spent at Y/Ci’s Sanctum, you did little exercise and ate only the strictly necessary to avoid hunger from distracting you.

Stark stood up to bid them goodbye, but suddenly the little girl ran downstairs. “Daddy, Daddy! Who are these people? Are they your friends?”

She saw you and ran to you. “You seem nice”, she said. “Are you nice?”

Giggling, you opened your arms in invitation. She climbed to your lap. “I don’t know, you tell me! By the way, what’s your name, little one?”

The girl beamed. “I’m Morgan! Are you Daddy and Mommy’s friends?”

You looked around the room. Potts just nodded and gestured for you to keep going. “Yes, we are. Why do you wanna know that, Morgan?”

“Because Daddy and Mommy’s friends are my friends too! Do you wanna play?”

Your face showed genuine sadness. Poor girl probably didn’t have many friends around to play with, given the secluded place she lived in. “Oh Morgan, we’d love to, but we have to get going. It’s a long way to New York.”

Morgan asked to be taken along, because she wants to visit New York so much, but Scott managed to get her attention. Potts thanked everyone, and especially you, for giving them hope, and led them to the garage. 

“You are good with kids, huh”, Rogers commented as you followed Potts. You shook your head.

“Don’t let that moment fool you, Captain. I’m actually a disaster.”

He let out a small laugh, but didn’t reply as they arrived at the garage. “Tony loves cars”, she explained. “It’s a rich men thing. Pick whichever you like.” They left the choice up to Rogers, the driver. The first sentence said on the car after they left the house was spoken by Romanov: “I honestly thought this was going to be way harder.”

You wanted to say it was easy for her to say that when it was you who spent two hours straight talking, with only a couple intermissions from Scott, but you kept your mouth shut. The Avengers knew each other for a decade; the woman could be talking about something else entirely.

“Now what?”, you asked instead.

“I’ll contact all of our allies, as Tony told us to do”, she replied. “Despite the Decimation, we have quite a number of them. Meanwhile, Steve will train you.”

You could almost feel Rogers’ question as he briefly turned to his teammate, but he said nothing on the subject. Soon you arrived back at the Avengers headquarters.

“You heard her”, Rogers said at your side as you got in the building. “Training time. But first, let’s get you in shape. You do look a little sick.”


	5. Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A month of training and bonding (and falling in love).

You barely did any exercise on the first week, except for morning runs with Steve - now you felt more comfortable in calling by his first name, especially after he switched from ‘Y/L/N’ to ‘Y/N’. You didn’t really know how you got into first-name basis with someone in this country, so you just followed his switch.

Anyway, Steve took you to eat in many different places, though most of them were of the ‘healthy food’ type. More than once they’d be called a couple; at first you tried to deny it, but eventually you both gave up. “It does look like a date”, Steve said nonchalantly, but you got flustered just the same.

It was surreal to think of you having a date with Captain America of all people. Actually, you barely remembered how it was to date someone, as immersed as you were in your grief and your goal.

Now the work was on Stark’s hands (and whoever helped him). You could take a whole month to relax and focus on different tasks.

You and Steve talked a lot over food. He already knew some things about you, thanks to Natasha’s questioning on your first day there, but he kept asking more stuff. In turn, you began to ask about his personal life as well.

You talked about your relationship with your family, and he told you about his mother and how his father inspired him to become a soldier.

You mentioned some friends, and he told you about Bucky and his family.

You talked about med school, he mentioned his pre-war art classes. He even drew a portrait of you one day, at your own request, after sending him a selfie. He also told you about the weekly group therapy sessions he led, which you began to attend as well.

You mentioned all the things you used to love doing before the Decimation: dancing, muay thai, volleyball, gym, singing, playing violin… how you always tried to balance the mess that was college with these things, until you lost everyone and focused on your self-assigned mission.

He talked about the Howling Commandos, about Howard Stark and Peggy Carter. You could see it in his eyes; he missed the past and grieved the life the war took from him.

“Sorry if it’s too personal”, you asked over dinner at the end of the first week. So far they shared nothing truly personal, only life facts. “But do you wonder how would your life would have been if you had managed to go back to US? If you had crashed that plane?”

He stayed silent for a long time. You were about to apologize when he finally said, “Sometimes. There are a lot of possibilities to entertain myself with. I try not to, though. It’s useless.”

His voice left unclear whether he succeeded or not. Then he changed the subject to your future plans, and you accepted the topic was over and should be touched on again.

“After reuniting with my family and friends, I’d love to become a psychiatrist”, you replied. “I’ve always loved to take care of people’s mental health. It’s when I feel the most useful, and most fulfilled.” Your turned to him. “What about you? Are you going to give yourself a rest?”

“Does Captain America ever rest?”, he asked back and glanced away. “I took my 66-year-nap already.”

You didn’t reply to that.

* * *

Only after you were ‘properly fed’ that training started. Most of it was on weapons, though, instead of hand-to-hand combat. “We’ll focus on that later”, he explained when you asked. “Personally, I think your best chance will be with weapons.”

He first taught you to how to fire a gun and how to aim. For that, he’d keep touching your arms, hands and shoulders, and speak really close to you. You had to hold your breath if you wanted to stay minimally focused on the tasks at hand.

How long had it been since you last had such close contact with someone? Granted, Steve was being strictly professional, but your interactions made you realize how affection and touch-starved you became. You’ve spent for too long in isolation, and now your body was trying to catch up.

Still, you managed to shoot right at the end of your second day. He complimented you, and you felt your cheeks red as you thanked him.

Next was knives. Way more interesting, in your opinion. He didn’t really teach to stab at first, but to throw them at distance. “Given your lack of training”, he said, “I’d recommend you to stay as far away as possible from any possible enemy.”

Steve touching you has soon become a routine, thanks to all corrections he made on your technique. Day by day, you got used to it, but it still made your heart race.

Your post-training hang-outs didn’t help at all. You’d usually stay at the headquarters, watching a movie or two. On your third training day, Natasha gave you the task of “helping Steve catch up with the last 70 years”.

“Oh, come on”, he said. “I’ve watched all _Star Wars_ and _Harry Potter_ movies!”

“You know what”, you replied, “we should watch _time-travel_ movies. Have you seen the _Back to the Future_ trilogy?”

He hadn’t, so that’s what you did that evening, with Natasha. You three shared a huge bowl of popcorn, and it still wasn’t enough to last for half of the first movie - thanks to Steve’s super metabolism. “Do you have a black hole for a stomach, or something?”, you asked after he emptied the second refill.

He actually laughed at that. “I might”, he replied teasingly. You were sure your cheeks were slightly red, but you turned your attention to the movie.

Natasha wouldn’t always join you two, though. She often had calls to make, and time zones meant she sometimes had to do said call at odds hours. You also suspected she was leaving you and Steve alone on purpose, but decided to stay quiet on the subject. It didn’t make much sense in your head, to be honest; why would she try to set Steve, a long-time friend, to a near stranger (you)?

On your second day of knife-throwing, you asked him, genuinely curious, “Was this a skill you had to learn on your war times?”

“Actually, I learned this after I was defrosted”, he replied. “Back in the war, I only got gun training. They said ‘HYDRA won’t attack you with a knife’…”, he trailed off after that, with a distant and sad look.

You waited for him to resume his story, but when it didn’t happen, you asked, in a low voice, “Are you okay?”

He blinked, seemingly coming back to reality. “Oh, it’s just… Bucky attacked me with a knife when I met him as Winter Soldier.”

He spoke of the memory with odd fondness, but you didn’t ask further questions. “Guess your superiors were wrong, huh”, you said instead.

He nodded, a ghost of a grin in his lips. “Yeah, they were. Anyway, back to training. Here, you have to position your arm like this…”

And he was back to touching your arm, making you way too flustered for your liking. But you did everything right afterwards, so he most likely didn’t notice anything, much to your relief.

The last thing you wanted was for Steve to find out about your crush on him.

* * *

“We can take a break, you know?”

He raised his eyes to look at yours. “Why do you think we need one? Are you tired?” He sighed. Before you could reply, he kept on talking: “I should have realized you’d be. You’re not a super soldier, you wouldn’t pick up on my spe-”

“It’s not that”, you interrupted. He frowned. “I’m following you just fine, despite our… speed differences, or whatever you want to call it. I’m talking about… _you_ , actually.”

His frown deepened. “What about me?”

You bit your lip. “You seem… down. Ever since breakfast. Like… like you woke up with less energy than usual.”

Silence followed your statement. You were about to dismiss your own words when he spoke up. “It’s my mother’s death anniversary.”

You felt your own face soften at that. “Oh, Steve”, you approached him and placed both hands on his shoulders. “We _really_ should take a day off then.”

He closed his eyes and seemingly leaned into your touch, though it could have been an illusion on your part. “I… would mind hugging me?”

Your eyes widened, but you wouldn’t deny such a request. You hugged him as tightly as his physique let you, and he circled his strong arms around you. You heard sniffing. “It’s okay”, you whispered.

“It’s been over eighty years”, you heard him say. “It shouldn’t hurt this much anymore.”

“It will always hurt”, you replied, voice as soft as you could manage. “And Steve, you missed nearly 70 of those years. It hasn’t been that long for you, and no one is allowed to judge you for mourning your mother.”

He sobbed a for couple minutes and then broke apart from hug, a tear still visible. You were tempted to take that tear away with your thumb, but managed to stop yourself.

“Is there anything you’d like to do today?”, you asked. “I’ll stay with you. This is no time to be alone.”

He gave you a weak. “Thank you. It means a lot.” He took a breath. “I haven’t visited her grave since the Decimation. It only reminded me that Bucky, Sam and the others didn’t have a grave of their own. But now that there is hope they won’t need it…”, he trailed off again.

“Oh well. let’s go then.”

* * *

You looked for Natasha before heading to the cemetery, but then you remembered she had gone abroad to get Hawkeye.

The ride to the cemetery was quiet, and so was the path to Sarah Rogers’ grave - which, as you found out, was next to her husband’s. Steve knelt in front of both of them and you stepped aside, distancing yourself from the scene enough to give him privacy, but still close enough that you could quickly go to him in case he needed.

He stayed there for almost an hour, but looked at peace when stood up and called you to leave. You smiled at him, and you two went back to the Headquarters.

“You know what would cheer you up?”, you said after you changed clothes. “YouTube. I know just the thing, if you want to.”

His eyebrows arched. “I’m a bit afraid of what you’ll show me, but… let’s give it a try.” You beamed at him and asked for a tablet, which he promptly gave to you.

Two hours later, there were tears in his eyes, but of laughing too much. “Wait, there’s more!”, you said, laughing along.

“ _More_? What _happened_ in 2019 for people to make these crazy Freddie Mercury videos?”

You shrugged. “No idea, but I always laugh like an idiot when I see them. Thank you, YouTube recommendations.”

“Your recommendations page includes _the entire Bee Movie voiced with 80s pop songs_.”

“Exactly! We should try that one later.”

“Y/N no.”

“Y/N yes!”

“You’re insane.”

“That’s part of my charm.” You looked up and saw a fond expression in his face as he nodded.

“You have a point”, he said. Your face burned.

* * *

He eventually taught to you stab. Where to go for a kill, and where to go if you just wanted to incapacitate. You still trained your aim, of course, and he showed you a few fighting moves - mostly self-defense, since you were more likely to need to block attacks than doing them.

“If you ever get attacked, do everything in your power to stay away. Only then, if needed, you attack”, he explained. “I know you are not a _complete_ beginner, but you still have to think of every move you do when you attack. We can’t have that, and you should avoid relying on instinct.” A pause. “God, I hope we won’t ever need to see if these lessons will pay off.”

You nodded. “I hope so, too.”

Then you heard Natasha come in. “Guys”, she said. “We have a problem.”

Carol Danvers (the one named Captain Marvel), appeared immediately after. “Thor wants to send his right-hand Valkyrie. Said he isn’t needed.”

“ _What_?”, you exclaimed at the same Steve said, “You’ve got to be _shitting_ me.”

Natasha shook her head. “Carol and I went to see him in New Asgard. We wanted Bruce and Rocket to go at first, because he’s closer to them, but apparently they were in the final stages of development of the time machine… Anyway, he hasn’t been doing well in the last three years at all. Valkyrie said he spends the whole day in his cabin, drinking and gaming. I saw him. He’s like, twice his weight, and not on muscles.”

You took a step closer to the two. If things with Thor were going like it seemed to, maybe you could help. “He’s having a drinking problem and refuses to fight”, you summarized.

Natasha nodded. “You didn’t see him right after the Snap, Y/N. He barely talked, barely ate, barely _lived_. This is the first time I see him smiling, and it’s not even real.”

You nodded slowly. “Alcoholism, depression, possible PTSD”, you mumbled, but they all heard you anyway, and stared at you. “What? I’m a doctor.”

“Do you think you could help him?”, Steve asked.

“I can try. Can’t guarantee anything, though.”

“You should go, then”, Natasha said. “I can’t leave again; Clint needs me around.” Apparently, Hawkeye had gone mad with grief and busted on a killing spree, murdering criminal around the world. So far he had calmed down, thanks to Natasha, but he was still deemed unsafe to be near others. “You don’t have to go by yourself, though.”

“I’ll go”, Steve offered. “If Y/N wants to, that is.” You turned your head to face him.

“Of course I want to! You don’t think I’d willingly go there alone, do you? I don’t know Thor!”

“Hey, there’s me”, Danvers protested weakly.

Three hours later, you, Steve and Danvers were on your way to New Asgard.

* * *

Valkyrie, who looked every bit like a mythological legend, led you to Thor’s cabin. “Be careful”, she whispered.

“I’m bringing a super-human with me”, you replied, patting Steve’s shoulder. “I’ll be fine.”

She didn’t believe you, but knocked on the door anyway. Thor opened a whole minute later.

You took a moment to look at him as he excitedly greeted Steve. He was shirtless, and it was clear Natasha wasn’t kidding when she said he was twice his weight; that much was clear, even if you had only seen him through pictures. His beard and hair were longer than you had ever seen, and he smelled like he hadn’t taken a bath in days.

“And who are you, lady?”, he asked, turning to you.

“Y/N Y/L/N, Your Majesty”, you replied politely.

He laughed loudly at that. “‘Your Majesty’? Ha, that’s funny! That’s how you introduce me to newcomers, Val? M’lady, I don’t even run my own life, let alone this entire… village. No, no, I’m no king. Val’s in charge. Of everything.” He tried to sound cheerful, but failed miserably.

“Y/N is a friend, Thor”, Steve said, seemingly ignoring the Asgardian’s rant. “Mind if we go inside?”

Stumbling, he moved to let you two in. You took in your surroundings. The living room had a TV with videogame equipment, a fireplace, dozens of beer cans (half of them obviously empty), a very used couch, and a corridor that led to a kitchen you didn’t dare enter.

“Welcome, welcome”, he said loudly and… well, a little drunkenly. “What do I owe you the pleasure? I hope it’s not to try to make me fight, like Nat and Danvers wanted. Because I’m over it. I’m a peaceful man now.”

“Oh, really?”, you asked, looking at the TV screen. “That Fortnite game over there begs to differ.”

He let out an embarrassed laugh. “Oh, that thing? It’s nothing, just something I do when I have friends over.”

“Oh, okay.” You didn’t believe that for a second. Although Danvers did mention some ‘weird-looking’ friends when she and Natasha came, he was alone this time. “Anyway, I came here to meet you, Thor. I’ve met all of the Avengers, but I was looking forward to fight with you. I’ve been a huge fan of yours-”

He raised his hand, frowning deep. “Fight with me? Are you going into battle, Lady Y/N? Because with all due respect, you are in no shape to fight. You are far too skinny for a warrior.” He turned to Steve, who was standing by the corridor. “Is this true?”

He nodded. “Y/N is the one who gave us a reason to fight. It’s in her right to join us.” You knew Steve was as worried as Thor, but you were grateful that he hid it.

“It’s not about having a right to fight”, Thor snapped, “It’s about risking a _life_! Why are you allowing such a risk?”

“We need numbers”, you replied. “That’s why Natasha and Danvers came here. We need as many as we can get. But I see it now. _You_ are the one in no condition to fight, and I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“I’m in perfect shape!”, he snapped. “My current looks may fool you, but I’m still stronger than any Midgardian!”

“Oh, Thor, I wasn’t talking about shape.” You sat down, and gestured for him to follow you. When he say by your side, you continued, “I can see it in your eyes. You’ve lost a lot, haven’t you? Your mom, your dad, your brother, your friends, most of your people… You haven’t moved on, have you? Not from the Decimation, not from Thanos… from anything at all.”

His face contorted in anger. “How can you _possibly_ know that”, he said, “how can you possibly _understand_ what I’ve been through? You’ve _never_ suffered like I have!”

From the corner of your eye, you saw Steve taking a step to your direction, but you raised you hand to stop him, while placing the other on Thor’s shoulder. “When someone goes through as many traumas as you did… it leaves a mark. We all have our scars; but not all of them are visible to the eye. And there is no shame in having them. It makes you a great fighter.” A pause. “I lost my whole family too. In the Decimation.” At that, Thor looked up. “But I hope to bring them back. And I’m sorry I can’t offer you the same hope, but… that’s why I’m fighting, even though I lack expertise.”

A long silence followed your words. Suddenly Thor stood up and walked up to the TV corner, grabbing a huge axe you hadn’t noticed until that moment. He then walked to kitchen, and you saw him moving to get a bottle of drink. Steve stopped him, though. “Not on my watch”, he said. “We need you _sober_ for this, buddy.”

“Oh, c’mon”, Thor snapped again. “You want to take me away from my only joy?”

“Yes, we do”, you said. “Because we want you to have joy from other things too. It’s time for you to move on, Thor. It’s what your family would have wanted.”

* * *

Valkyrie and Thor stayed on the back of the ship. You overheard her giving him tips on how to deal with the first alcohol-free days. You then glanced at Steve, who smiled at you. “You did a great job, Y/N”, he said. “For a moment I thought everything was lost.”

“I thought so too”, you admitted. “And this is just the first step. He needs professional help if he wants to take the rest of the journey.”

“Then let’s make sure he sticks around long enough for us to help him find it.”

You nodded and rested on your seat. Then you noticed something on his left pocket. “Is that a rosary?”

He followed your gaze and nodded. “I always carry one with me.”

“Do you want to pray?”, you asked. “I’m Catholic too.”

He smiled, and led your prayers. A few hours later, you landed in front of the headquarters. Natasha waited for you, along with Clint Barton and James Rhodes (aka War Machine).

“We have great news waiting for you inside”, Rhodes began, but interrupted himself upon seeing Thor. “You alright, man?”

“Nope”, he replied. “But give me a few training days and some meat, and I’ll be good as new.”

Well, at least he didn’t ask for a drink.

“Okay, then”, Rhodes shrugged. “As I was saying… Tony and his new team managed to build that time machine.”

“Rocket has already tested it”, Natasha added. “It’s safe.”

You and Steve exchanged glances and smiled wide. From your side, you heard Danvers say, “Let’s get it started, then.”


	6. Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Infinity Stone Hunt begins.

_Two days later_

Everything was surreal. You were surrounded by heroes: Iron Man, War Machine, the Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain America, Thor, Captain Marvel, Valkyrie, Nebula, Rocket, Ant-Man… And you were among them. Part of the team, with a Quantum Suit and everything. Almost an Avenger yourself.

You took a couple deep breaths and brought yourself back to reality. The team was discussing how they’d get the Stones.

“Okay”, Natasha began, paper and pencil in hand. “First Stone, Space. The Tesseract. Let’s list all occasions in which one of us came in contact with it.”

“1945″, Steve said. “It was in Red Skull’s possession. I _think_ it was in the plane when I crashed it, but I'm not sure.”

“1995″, Danvers added. “My… mentor had kind of stolen it, and a reactor with the Stone inside exploded. My powers come from the it actually. And then Goose - an alien cat, if anyone’s wondering - swallowed it.”

“Well, your cat must have puked the thing, because Loki was after it in 2012, and it was back in SHIELD’s possession″, Barton said, seemingly undisturbed by an alien cat eating an Infinity Stone. “Then Thor took it to Asgard.”

Thor nodded. He already looked a lot better than when they found him. “It remained in Odin’s vault until we fled Asgard. Loki took it for some reason and… died trying to protect it from Thanos.”

A couple ‘I’m sorry’s were heard. “I don’t know when or how dad found it in the ocean”, Stark said eventually, “but I’m 90% sure it was already in SHIELD’s hand in the 70s.”

Natasha nodded slowly. “So, 1945, the 70s, 1995, 2012 and any time period between 2013 and 2017. Anything else?” Silence. “Okay, next Stone, Time.”

“Easy”, Stark said. “Strange.”

“Not always”, you replied. “He only became its guardian in mid-2016. It belonged to a woman before then. She lived in the same New York Sanctum, though, I think.”

“So we have pre-2016 and post-2016, same place, different guardians”, Natasha said. “Reality Stone?”

Thor adjusted himself in his chair. “It possessed Jane Foster in 2013. We took her to Asgard, so if we pick a place it’s probably the safest. Lady Sif was the one responsible for getting the Stone away from Asgard after that, since the Tesseract was already in our hands. Sadly, she only told its location to Loki, and both are gone.” He glanced at Rocket.

“Thanos took from Knowhere, from the Collector, I think.”

“Asgard in 2013 and Knowhere after that, then”, Natasha said. “Next, Mind Stone.”

“Loki’s scepter from 2012 to 2015, when it was put in Vision’s head”, Stark summarized.

“That scepter was in HYDRA’s hands for quite some time, though”, Steve added. “It was how Wanda and Pietro got their powers.”

Natasha nodded. “Power Stone.”

“Morag, 2014″, Rocket said. “That’s when Quill stole it. Then we left it in Xandar for safety. Didn’t end up so well, but the Stone can be found there until… well, I wouldn’t risk 2018, so 2017.”

“Anything else? Nebula? Carol?” Both women shook their heads. “Okay. Soul Stone.”

“Vormir”, Nebula said. “It was supposedly a mystery, but Gamora somehow found out and told Thanos so he’d stop torturing me.” Her robotic face let her guilt clear.

“Thanos killed Gamora, though”, Stark added. “Didn’t he? Isn’t that why Quill punched him back in Titan?”

Nebula nodded. “Yes. Thanos took Gamora to Vormir. Came back with the Stone, without her. The Stone had been there until then.”

Natasha nodded. “Guys, I think we have a plan. There are three Stones in New York in 2012: Time, Space and Mind. Three Stones in other planets in 2014: Power in Morag, Reality in Knowhere, Soul in Vormir. Alternatively, we can travel to 2013 to get Reality instead. What do you think, guys?”

Everyone began to nod, much to your surprise. There was a fatal flaw in that plan. “Guys? Aren’t we forgetting something here? Thanos _killed_ his daughter in Vormir and came back with the Soul Stone. Doesn’t that ring _any_ bells?”

Rocket snorted. “Thanos didn’t care for _any_ lives aside his own. He probably killed Gamora so she’d never tell anyone else about Vormir.”

Nebula shook her head. “Y/N has a point. Gamora was Thanos’ favorite. He never killed _me_ , who he always despised and saw as inferior. He wouldn’t kill my sister if he didn’t deem it _absolutely_ necessary.”

“He _did_ say he was forced to kill her in Titan”, Stark added.

“ _See_?”, you said. “Besides, the Stone’s named _Soul_. What if you need a _soul_ to get it? That would explain all the secrecy behind its location.” You stood up. “No, there must be another way to get that one. A way that doesn’t risk lives. That’s what you said, right, Stark? _We won’t risk lives_.”

Stark nodded and stood up too. “Yes. I agree with Y/N. However, the only other times any of us has seen the Soul Stone are _after_ Thanos gets it. Nebula and I saw it in Titan… _that’s it_!”

Everyone turned to Stark, who turned to Nebula. “Nebula, remember when we almost took the Gauntlet off Thanos’ arm?” She nodded. “If we manage to go to that specific point, we can at least get our hands on the Soul Stone, if not on the whole Gauntlet. And Strange was still in possession of the Time Stone, meaning we could just ask him. That way we don’t have to find out if getting the Soul Stone in Vormir requires sacrifice or not.”

Smiles could be seen all over the room. Banner was the first to speak after it: “Well, we shouldn’t send Stark and Nebula there, though. It might be confusing, and we can’t afford wasting time with that.”

“That’s an easy choice, honestly’, you said. “Send Danvers, Thor, Valkyrie and you there. You four have more than enough power to help the guys.”

“Lady Y/N is right”, Thor said, standing up. “I may not be in my best condition, but with Stormbreaker I can help stopping Thanos. I know exactly what to do this time.”

Valkyrie and Danvers agreed. Banner asked to stay away from the fight, and everyone conceded. The trio suited up. Stark and Nebula set the timer and described the scene they’d find. “Remember”, Stark said, “you have to get at least the Soul Stone. All the others can be safely found in other timelines, though it would save us a lot of work if you managed to get more. If possible, try to ask Strange for the Time Stone. He surely knows what we want to do with it.”

“Be safe”, you added.

“Look out for one another”, Steve added as well. You two exchanged glances.

They nodded, and Banner activated the time machine. “3… 2… 1…”, and they disappeared. After a minute, they came back, puffing. It was Danvers who spoke up first, excitedly. “We got two of them! Soul and and Reality!”

Valkyrie spoke second, huffing. “There was no way to ask the wizard for the Time Stone. Everything was a mess.”

Along with Thor, they told how they didn’t reach Quill in time to stop him punching Thanos, so it was a tough fight to get close to him. It was Danvers who got hold of the Soul Stone, while Thor grabbed the Reality Stone. Valkyrie managed to knock Thanos unconscious, allowing them to adjust their timers to get back. Strange was busy using the Time Stone to fight, so they weren’t able to get it from him.

“Well, we avoided the most complicated ones”, Natasha said. “No potential sacrifice to get the Soul Stone and no attacking Jane Foster to get the Reality Stone.”

“Damn, that one would have been awkward”, Rhodes commented. “Okay, now we need to get Space, Mind, Time and Power Stones. Do we stick to the original plan?”, he asked, looking at you.

“I don’t see why not”, you replied. “Like Natasha said, the worst part is over. By the way, Thor, Valkyrie, Danvers, you can rest. It should be easy from now on.”

Oh, how naïve you were.

* * *

Since they planned on getting the Space and Mind Stones mid-Battle of New York, it would be best to send the original Avengers, who knew where and when to be. Banner was voted out, thanks to his new looks, and Thor was left to rest. Natasha, Steve and Clint would go, along with Scott, whose powers could be useful. Stark and Rhodes would head to 2017 to negotiate the Time Stone with Strange, since no one knew how the previous guardian would react to them. You and Nebula would head to 2014 Morag to retrieve the Power Stone.

“I mean, when else will you be able to go to space?”, Steve said, making you smile wide. You were so excited Nebula asked for a delay for you to calm down.

Banner and Rocket would stay behind to coordinate everything. Rocket didn’t want to travel in time again, after being the one to test the machine. After a minute, you managed to get yourself back together. The eight of you gathered around the platform. Steve was responsible for the pep talk:

“Three years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know, that doesn’t mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we’re going to win. Whatever it takes. Good luck.”

You and Natasha smiled at him. Scott praised him, and Barton laughed for the first time since you’ve met him. “See you all in a minute”, Natasha said, excitement clear in her voice and body language.

You felt dizzy as you spiraled inside the Quantum Realm, but, before you could blink, you were already out. You found yourself in a purple desert planet, with no sign of life except for a temple-like building. It was a disappointing sight, so you simply turned to Nebula and asked, “Is the Power Stone inside that place?”

She nodded and you followed her. She pulled you to hide behind some sort of ruin. Confused, you followed her gaze to find a masked human-like being singing and dancing around with a gun.

“Do you know who he is?”, you asked. The song sounded familiar.

“Peter Quill”, she answered in a whisper. “Half-human, half-something I can’t remember. He’s the one Tony said to have punched Thanos when we heard he killed Gamora.”

“Oh”, you said. “Okay.” You kept watching. “He needs to take some dancing classes.”

“He’s an idiot”, she deadpanned.

“Oh c’mon, he’s not that bad. And his taste in music is good.”

Nebula rolled her eyes at you and stood up. “We can’t wait on him forever.” That said, she shot him in the head. “He’s going to be unconscious for an hour. Let’s go.”

Relieved that the poor guy wasn’t dead, you followed her inside the building. The Power Stone was in the center, covered by an orb-thing, on some sort of alter, with no protection whatsoever. “Are you sure we’re not walking into a trap?”

“Quill took the Stone effortlessly. All he had to face was some Krees.” As she said that, Nebula walked straight to the altar and extended her hand to grab the orb. Her cibenetic arm burned, but she managed to grab the orb before it fell apart. You two looked at each other in the eye. “I wasn’t always like this”, she offered, as if the sight of her arm was something to fear.

“We live with what we’ve got, I guess”, you replied, smiling. “I hope you didn’t feel pain, at least.”

“Pain distracts you from battle”, she said. “Thanos only allowed me to feel pain if he was the one inflicting it, so… no, I didn’t feel pain.”

“Sounds like a comfort to me.”

She didn’t answer, but you could see a ghost of a smile in her lips. She placed the orb in her pocket and you two suited up again. “Okay”, you said, “3… 2-”

You interrupted yourself as Nebula fell on ground, looking like she was convulsing. You heard the Pym Particle bottle from her suit break. “Nebula!”, you shouted as you reached her, kneeling before your teammate. “Are you okay?”

As if answering your question, her cibernetic eye projected something. It was Nebula herself, standing by Thanos’ side, with another female-like alien. “Gamora”, you heard your Nebula say.

The conversation between the three was clear: they knew Future Nebula was there and had time traveled. Also that she wasn’t on Thanos side anymore. They wanted to get her.

“This is not a live projection”, Nebula said, standing up. You stood up as well. “They must be already on their way here.”

“Then switch your timer with mine”, you replied. Nebula turned to you with wide eyes. “You _can’t_ be taken, Nebula. What if they send past you to fool our friends? If anyone is kidnapped, it’s _got_ to be me.”

“I can’t let you fall into his hands. You will _die_.”

“So will _you_!”, you shouted. “My mission is _done_ , Nebula. I did everything I could to bring my family back. But yours isn’t. Go back with the Stone and make our wish.” A huge noise was heard. “They’re here, aren’t they?” Nebula nodded. You took your timer off and gave it to her. “ _Go_!”

Reluctantly, she took it and gave her broken timer to you. “I’ll come back for you, Y/N. We don’t risk lives.”

“Bring everyone back first”, you screamed, trying to be heard in the midst of the noise. Someone was entering the temple. “ _Only then_ you come back for me. Now _go_!”

With no hesitation this time, Nebula left. Still suited up, you grabbed a knife Natasha gave you and stabbed your new timer. It was the last thing you did before everything went black.


	7. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt ends, and a rescue mission takes place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is narrated by Steve and Nebula. Reader will come back in next chapter!

_Battle of New York, 2012_

“This looks even crazier in person”, Scott said as past Hulk was seen throwing some Chitauri to the sky.

“Banner would be so embarrassed if saw himself like this”, Natasha said. At her side, Clint nodded.

“Okay guys”, Steve stepped up. “If I remember correctly, Loki is about to be defeated. We have to get to the Tower and get the Tesseract and the Scepter. Try not to die. We’ve survived worse.”

“I can pull myself and tiny Scott up”, Clint offered. “Not sure how you and Nat will do it, though.”

“This is an alternate timeline, right?”, Natasha replied. “Our actions here won’t impact our future, only theirs. Honestly, I think we can just step in.”

Steve nodded. “You have a point, Nat. But maybe Clint and Scott should go through the window anyway. If something delays us two, at least they will be already in place and can try to retrieve the Stones without us.”

The other three nodded. Scott activated his suit and shrunk. Clint placed him inside a vest pocket and headed to the avenue. He and Natasha headed to the Tower’s main entrance. “So, you and Y/N?”, Natasha asked.

He did his best to keep a straight face, being caught off guard. “This is _really_ not the time to set me up with her, Nat”, he replied. “Don’t think I didn’t realize what you’ve been doing these past weeks.”

“It’s worked, hasn’t it?”, she said, grinning, as he pressed the elevator button, so far going unnoticed amidst the chaos.

“Like I said, _not_ the time”, he deadpanned and turned to the elevator. Thoughts about you tried to creep into his mind, but he quickly pushed them aside. He’d wonder about what you meant to him _after_ the Stones were all collected.

The elevator ride was as fast as he remembered. There was a time when he had his own floor in that Tower, designed by Tony himself. Many thoughts of guilt and regret came over him, but again he pushed those aside. He and Tony have made peace with each other long ago; there was no point in dwelling on past mistakes.

When the doors opened, the scene that greeted them was kind of funny: 2012 Clint and 2021 Clint were pointing arrows at each other, and 2012 Tony was giggling non-stop while the Tesseract was slowly falling down from his hands - probably Scott’s doing. Everyone else just looked confused, including Loki.

2012 Steve stepped out as soon as he and Natasha got out of the elevator. “Stay where you are, whoever you are”, he said, in a commanding voice that did nothing but annoy him.

“That’s not happening anytime soon”, he replied, taking some steps closer. “We are from the future, and we have urgent business.”

“Yeah, that’s what this other guy said a minute ago”, 2012 Clint said, not taking his eyes away from his future version. “Not buying it, fake Cap.”

He sighed, noticing Natasha slip away. She’d probably have to deal with her own past self to retrieve the Scepter, so he concluded it would be better if he distracted the rest of them. “Bucky is alive”, he told his past version. “HYDRA is still active-”

“Oh, now you’re just making things up”, his past self interrupted.

“Really? Go tell ‘Hail Hydra’ to Pierce and Runlow. See if I’m telling you any bullshit.”

 _That_ called Tony’s attention. “You really want us to believe you’re a real Cap when you say ‘bullshit’?”

He rolled his eyes. “I fought in the war for years, I can actually do a lot worse than ‘bullshit’.” He turned to his past self. “You know that pretty well.”

“You call us out for cursing″, 2021 Clint replied, smirking.

“That was _one_ time, in 2015. It’s been six years, get over already!”

“If I may speak”, Loki said, adjustig his position as best as he could, “I was raised by a witch mother and learned magic myself-”

“Yeah, we noticed”, past Clint murmured.

“-and those folks are telling the truth. All four of the are from eleven years in the future.”

Thor nodded, although he was frowning. “My brother is right this time - we _were_ raised by the same woman, so I know a thing or two -, but I fail to notice four companions from the future. I can only see three.”

As if waiting for that exact curtain call, the Tesseract finally fell from Tony’s hands. Scott instantly turned back to his normal size, Tesseract in hand, and, at the same moment, Natasha grabbed the Scepter. “Let’s go!”, she exclaimed, suiting up along with Scott. Past Natasha tried to get her, but 2021 Clint was faster in hitting her with an arrow, activating his Quantum suit right after. Only he remained, but he gave no time for the others to get him.

* * *

_Avengers Headquarters, 2021_

The first thing Steve heard was Rhodes asking, “Have you gotten enough of those?”, to which Tony replied affirmatively. Before he could ask what they were talking about, though, he noticed someone was missing. Or rather, _you_ were missing.

“Nebula”, he began, “where is Y/N?”

She closed her eyes for a moment, but, when she opened them again, it was with a look of determination. “We need to gather the Stones first. I’ll tell everything while we do it.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but she was already on her way to the table where the new Gauntlet was at, along with Scott, Natasha and Rhodes. Banner had already begun to put the Stones in place, with Danvers’ help. 

“My brain…”, Nebula began, “it’s connected to a sort of intranet. When we were about to leave, past me’s brain connected to mine… and our location was given away.”

“But you escaped”, he said. “What happened to Y/N?” He held his breath as he waited for her answer.

“My timer broke”, she said. “I should have been the one to stay behind, but Y/N… she took her own timer off and switched with mine. Said it would be safer if she was the one to be kidnapped, because that way they couldn’t try to send my past version to fool you.”

Steve stood up and started pacing around. Once again, you were the most sensible one in this team, but he couldn’t bring himself to calm down. The thought of you being at Thanos’ hands, all alone…

“Why are we not going back there yet?”, he asked, more venom in his voice than intended.

“She made me promise we’d make our wish first”, Nebula said.

“I know you’re worried, Steve”, Tony said behind him. “We all are. But thing is, if we bring everyone back first, we’ll have more people to aid us in that rescue. I assume Thanos is with his army, right?” Nebula nodded. “So, we need an army of our own.”

Tony was right. Nebula was right. _You_ were right. But still, Steve’s heart was on his throat. All worst possible scenarios popped up in his head. Faintly, he felt two people gently push him back to the couch.

Flashes of the last weeks passed through his mind. You two had a mildly rough start, thanks to his (reasonable) initial distrust. But soon enough he warmed up to you, especially when he saw your brief interaction with Tony’s little girl.

He opened up to you while training and watching movies. More than he usually did, but there was something about you that made him want to tell everything. Maybe it was your compassion, which he saw first hand more than once. Maybe it was your contagious laugh, especially when you watched weird YouTube videos when things started to get too heavy, too dark. Maybe it was your smile, your eyes, your soothing voice…

At that moment, he realized he had fallen for you in the span of a month. And now you were in grave danger, and he had to wait for the rest of the team to be revived to go to your rescue.

Speaking of which, he was so lost in thought he missed the part where Bruce was chosen to wield the gauntlet and snap his fingers. He was brought back to reality by Tony. “Raise your shield, Cap”, he shouted. “And stay as far as possible.”

He did as told, standing up from the couch, and took a few steps until his back touched the glass walls. Bruce screamed in pain as he wore the gauntlet, but managed to snap his fingers all the same. Thor was instantly by his side, checking if he was okay. Meanwhile, Clint called his wife, and Scott went to the window. “Everything is coming back guys”, he shouted. “Even plants and animals!”

He sighed in relief. “Now”, he then said, “we need to gather ourselves to go get Y/N back.”

Nebula nodded, followed by everyone in the room. “How are we going to do it?”, Bruce asked, massaging his burned arm. “Most are in Wakanda, and some are out in space.”

“Technically, we have time”, Tony said. “We’ll go to the exact time Nebula left Y/N, regardless of how long we wait for them to come to us. What we _do_ need, though, is to _contact_ them. Does anyone have King T’Challa’s phone, or something? Or maybe-”

He was interrupted by a sling ring appearing in the middle of the room. A man in a cape stepped out, followed by Peter Parker and… aliens. “We have to hurry”, the man said. “Thanos is currently trying to figure out a way to use Y/N Y/L/N to come to 2021. If he succeeds, your efforts will be in vain, and the whole universe will be doomed. There is no time to waste.”

He faintly heard someone calling him Strange (so he must be the wizard he heard so much about), while the man himself opened more sling rings. Bucky and Sam stepped out of one, along with Groot, Wanda, T’Challa, Okoye and Shuri. Wong, Nicky Fury and Maria Hill from aanother ring. A female warrior, who Thor called Lady Sif, stepped out of a third. A woman Scott called Hope came from a fourth, and Pepper showed up in a fifth, suited up in blue and silver armor.

He sat back on the couch, mesmerized. People were hugging each other, glad to have them back. Bucky went to him and smiled, which prompted him to stand up and hug him, Before he could do the same to Sam, though, Strange called them out. “There will be time for reunions later”, he said. “Right now, we have to rescue Miss Y/L/N and stopping Thanos from coming back.” He turned to Tony. “Do we have resources to get everyone to travel there?”

Tony nodded. Rhodes briefly explained how 2017 Strange sensed they’d need more Pym Particles. Tony went to the 1975 to get some, while Rhodes broke into Hank Pym’s home in 2018 to get another amount. Tony had already made extra Quantum Suits, which was enough for nearly everyone.

“I think we can leave Bruce out”, Natasha said. “He needs to recover.”

Bruce thanked her for the consideration, and passed his suit to Drax, who was eager to fight Thanos. He and Nebula briefly explained the recent events while Tony gave the suits to everyone who was up to fight. Only Bruce, Wong and Groot didn’t get one - Wong because he’d rather stay behind to watch for threats (since he could alert Strange of them using magic), and Groot because Tony didn’t think of adapting the suit for a _tree_ (Rocket’s design was already unique).

They all gathered around the platform once again. He was in no mood for another motivational speech, but apparently he had to. “I think we all know the importance of this mission”, he said. “Not only we have a teammate to rescue, we have an entire universe to save from destruction. Take care of one another. Try not to die. If injured or exhausted, return to our time immediately.” He took a deep breath. “On the count of five.”

* * *

_Morag, 2014_

Nebula managed to set their timer to the exact second after she left, but there still wasn’t enough time to get to you before Thanos did. From afar, he saw your unconscious body being carried away to the enormous spaceship. “Fuck”, he muttered. Then he shouted, “We have to try to get in the ship!” And started to run.

Thanos’ team was faster, though, and the ship took flight before any of them could get in. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

“My old ship is down there”, he heard a male voice say. “If we get inside it now, we can still reach them. You know where they’re going, Nebula?”

He turned to see Nebula nodding. “I have an idea.”

He followed the man named Quill to another spaceship, which was way smaller. “Okay, it won’t fit everyone”, he said, as if reading his thoughts.

“If any of you don’t manage to get in”, Steve said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “you are free to go back to 2021.”

He could tell there were people who didn’t really want to fight. The praying-mantis-like alien clearly stayed behind on purpose, and so did Rocket with his tree friend. Steve, however, was the second to get inside, followed by Nebula, Nat, Tony and Thor - and then he lost track of order.

In the end, Bucky also stayed behind, along with Okoye, Princess Shuri, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, Strange, Parker, Wanda and Pepper. “Most of them would be useful”, he said.

“I think Strange knows another something we don’t, Steve”, Tony said. “He seemed to have stayed behind on purpose.”

“I hope he damn knows what he’s doing then”, he replied, closing his fists. Natasha sat beside him.

“Everything will work out fine, Steve”, she said with a calm voice. “Soon Y/N will be with us again, and you’ll tell her how you feel.”

He side-eyed her. “Didn’t I say it wasn’t the time for this?”

“Yeah, in 2012. Besides, I saw you realizing your feeling backs in the headquarters. It was so clear in your face, anyone who looked would know exactly what you were thinking.”

“I did!”, Danvers exclaimed. “It was really sweet.”

He rolled his eyes, but a half-smile escaped.

* * *

_Nebula’s POV_

Nebula managed to track Thanos’ ship signal, and Quill disabled his own, rendering them practically invisible. “It’s usually not worth it”, he explained when someone asked why ships didn’t do that all the time. “The ship’s shields weaken a bit, for starters, and being traceable is useful when you are in distress.”

“In Thanos’ case”, she added, “his ship has to leave the signal turned on for his allies to find him. Besides, he is sure no one would try to attack him. As you saw on Morag, his crew is large in numbers.”

“Is there a way to attach this ship to Thanos’?”, Danvers asked.

Quill nodded. “I’ve never tried it, though. If you have any experience, feel free to.” It surprised Rocket and Nebula to see Quill acting this humble, but then they remembered Gamora’s death was still fresh to him. He was probably still in grief mood. It occurred to her that she’d probably face the 2014 version of her sister (and herself). She wasn’t really ready to see her after so many years, especially since she didn’t have memories of their reconciliation.

Danvers took Quill’s seat and, with Nebula’s help, drove the ship until it was right under Thanos’. Then, the human took over and, with a few button-pushing, landed straight on the other ship. “Now”, she said loud enough for everyone to hear, “we have to blow these walls up!”

She could swear she heard Quill complain about the damage on his past self’s ship, but ignored it as Rocket managed to open a big hole on both ships, allowing their entrance on Thanos’ one. She was the last to jump in; everyone had already begun to split up, but she knew where to go.

Gamora was at the end of the corridor, seemingly waiting for her. “Looking for someone?”, she said, facial expression unreadable.

“I think you know who”, she replied cautiously.

Her sister approached her and offered her hand. “My version of you died aiding her escape”, she said as Nebula took it. Then she pulled her closer, whispering in her ear, “She’s on her way to Asgard, in an untraceable escape pod.”

Nebula nodded. She trusted Gamora, even this version, to tell the truth. By 2014, her sister was no longer on their father’s side, and on this day she was about to run away from his control. “We’ll have to take over the ship to get there, though”, she admitted. “The one we used to get here is damaged beyond repair.”

“With the amount of help you brought”, Gamora replied, “it may not be hard.”

She was about to say that many powerful allies didn’t make it to the ship when a sling ring opened in front of them. “Strange”, she mumbled, and turned to Gamora. “Are you coming?”

“Of damn course. I lost my Nebula, and I’ve heard you lost your Gamora. Let’s be together again.” At that, she smiled, and both stepped into the ring.

A huge castle appeared in front of them. Turning back, she saw the others coming through other rings. “Good thing I planted an earpiece on all of you”, she heard Rocket say, and turned back ahead. “As soon as I heard Gamora give Y/N’s location away, I told the wizard here.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”, she heard Captain Rogers say.

“Nothing”, she replied. “Let’s get inside.”


	8. Worth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2014 is a troubled year indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we're back to Reader's POV!

You woke up to see… Nebula?

She wasn’t an exact clone of the one you knew, which meant you were still in 2014. Beside her, a green humanoid female stood. You remembered seeing her frame in Nebula’s transmission, so she must be Gamora.

You were tied down, arms and legs, and gagged. The room around you was purple and black, and cold. You looked down to see your damaged timer still there.

“Thanos ordered us to… interrogate you”, Gamora began. “And we will… but we have a proposal first.”

2014 Nebula spoke. “First, you have to promise you won’t scream.” You nodded. Of course you weren’t going to scream, and Gamora’s words and body language indicated that whatever proposal she had in mind could truly benefit you. Nebula took your gag off. “The Nebula you were with… she betrayed Thanos before his death, didn’t she?”

You nodded. “I don’t know all the details, but I know she had already turned on him before the Decimation.” At Gamora’s frown, you proceeded, “It’s what we call the event in which Thanos killed half of the universe’s living beings. He was killed soon after, and my Nebula was the one to give his location away. Willingly.”

The two sister exchanged glances. “Where am I?”, Gamora asked. “In your future?”

You bit your lip. “Dead. Thanos sacrificed you for the Soul Stone.” You weren’t completely sure of it, but you firmly believed that theory. And Thanos did kill Gamora, whatever his reason had been.

“Is there any way this can be changed?” Past Nebula asked in a tone that reminded you of the one you sent back to 2021. You let a half-smile slip.

“This is… an alternate universe. Not mine. Whatever we do here won’t affect my present, only your own future. We… have our reasons to be here, reasons I’d rather not say in this ship.”

“We have a suspicion”, Gamora replied, “but you have a right not to confirm it. What is your name?” You told her. “So, Y/N, here’s the deal: you tell us all you know about our future and how we escaped Thanos’ grasp, and in exchange we will aid your escape. No one can watch or hear us in this room; we’re safe.”

“We have no intention of seeing Thanos’ plan through”, Nebula added. “He wants to repair your watch and send us to your year. We know it’ll only lead to destruction.”

You suspected their determination to sabotage Thanos was strengthened after you told them of Gamora’s death, but you didn’t question anything. You simply nodded. “What else do you want to know?”

* * *

Their interrogation lasted shorter than you expected. You told them what little you knew about Gamora’s last four years of life, especially about the Guardians of the Galaxy, and about the Soul Stone.

Gamora’s final question was, “Are your companions coming to get you?”

You shrugged. “My Nebula wanted to, and I think the rest would like to come back as well. I’m not sure if they will able to, though.” You remembered Stark saying that they had a limited supply of Pym Particles, which was why it was so important they got all the Stones at first try. You didn’t know if there were enough of them to make another trip.

Besides, this was an alternate timeline. It was possible that, if they tried to go back to 2014 again, they’d just end up in _another_ 2014, in which you and Nebula hadn’t arrived at. You hoped it wasn’t the case.

“Regardless”, Nebula said, “we can’t let you stay here for long. Sooner or later Thanos will find out we didn’t do what he told us to do, and it’s best if you are already out of this ship by then.”

“We have untraceable escape pods, don’t we?”, Gamora asked her sister. At the later’s nod, she said, “Then we’ll put you on one to a place where your watch can be fixed and you can safely go back to your own time, without our father breathing on your neck.” She then knelt and untied your legs. “We’ll keep your arms tied for now, in case we are seen.”

You nodded. “Can I go to Asgard?”, you asked as you stood up.

Gamora frowned. “I thought you’d want to go to Earth. Wasn’t you watch built there?”

“Yes, but in years from now. I don’t know if my companions have the resources required to repair it today. Besides, there is another me there at the moment. I don’t want to draw attention.”

“Someone from Earth in Asgard is bound to draw attention”, Nebula said.

“If I recall correctly, it wouldn’t be the first time.” Thor’s story left unclear if Jane Foster had been on Asgard while possessed by the Reality Stone, but where else would they have been able to remove it?

“Then we’ll program the pod to take you there”, she replied with a nod. Then Gamora unlocked the door and grabbed you by the arm. “Act as a prisoner”, she whispered. You tensed, and it wasn’t all acting.

For a moment, you wondered if the two hadn’t lured you into a trap. You were completely at their mercy, and your timer could be easily snatched away. Nebula’s and Rocket’s stories let you think that both sisters were already thinking about deflecting in 2014, but what if they hadn’t yet?

They didn’t ask a single thing that could actually help them on repairing your timer, but maybe they had already figured out a way to travel in time while you were unconscious. How, you couldn’t imagine, but it was _possible_. If that was the case, they were simply trying to discover what was waiting for them in 2021 to go more prepared, and now that they were done with you, you’d be killed.

You mentally revised what you told them. There was next to no information on anyone aside from the Guardians, and since you barely knew them, there wasn’t much to tell. But… _oh no_. You said your ‘companions’ could come to your rescue.

It meant more timers to steal and figure out its use. Timers that _didn’t_ require repairs. If your fears were true, you truly would be better off killed for them.

Was that it? Were they taking you to your freedom, or to your death?

Consumed as you were by your thoughts, you didn’t notice you three had been caught until a couple aliens started shooting. Gamora quickly led you to another corridor, while Nebula stayed behind. “What…?”

“Don’t look back, just come!”, Gamora whispered-shouted as you two ran. Eventually you arrived in a section full of tiny ships. More slowly this time, the green woman inspected each ship carefully. “Here”, she finally said. “This one.” She opened it and untied your arms. Then she typed a few things you didn’t understand. “It’s on autopilot, so you won’t have to do anything. Let’s just hope no one will get in your way. Farewell, Y/N. Stay safe.”

“You too”, you replied. “Thank you for everything.”

She gave you a small smile. “You’re welcome. Goodbye.”

Then, she closed the ship, and it landed off. 

* * *

Thanks to the multiple space jumps at light speed, you ended passing out, and you had no idea how much time had passed when you arrived at Asgard. It was pure luck that you managed to wake up in time to see the flat planet from above.

It was one of the most beautiful things you had ever seen, but you barely had time to admire it, as the pod landed fast on a bridge.

As you got out of the pod, a man ran to you. “I’ll have to take you to Allfather”, he announced.

“Oh, great”, you said. “He’s the one I’d like to talk to.”

As the man led you inside the huge castle, you tried to remember how Loki looked like. Thor said his friend Sif had disclosed the location of the Reality Stone only to Loki, so you guessed he must have been the king at the time it happened. Also, he said Loki retrieved the Tesseract upon escaping 2017 Asgard. How else would he know where it was, if he wasn’t king?

At least, that was what you thought, until you saw an old man sitting on the throne. Odin?

“Thank you, Skurge”, the supposed king said as the guard awkwardly introduce you - he had forgotten to interrogate you, so he had nothing to say. “I’ll take it from here. Please, go back to your post.”

‘Skurge’ nodded and hurried out. You turned to the man and said, “I’m honored to meet you, Allfather, but I was actually looking for your sons, Thor and Loki.”

The man frowned. “What do you want from them?”

“I am from the future, Your Highness. Seven years from now, to be more precise. I’ve met Thor, and he spoke much of his brother, and I firmly believe the two of them can help me go back to my time before Thanos captures me again.”

The king frowned at the mention of Thanos, and asked you a more detailed story. You told him about how, in your time, half of the universe had been wiped out with the power of the Infinity Stones, and how you and a team of experts had figured out how to travel in time to undo all the deaths. You also briefly explained how you ended up caught by Thanos, who wanted your timer to go to your present and destroy your team and stop your efforts.

“It’s urgent that we take you out of this time, indeed”, he said at the end of your speech. “However, I’m afraid we can’t contact my sons. Thor is in Midgard as we speak, and Loki died last year.”

You frowned. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but Thor was very clear when telling us that Loki died in 2018. That’s four years from now.”

The king adjusted himself in his seat. “How can you be so sure of this?”

“He said Loki died protecting the Space Stone from Thanos. A hero’s death. And before that, a woman named Sif told him where she hid the Reality Stone after taking it from Jane Foster, a Midgardian. Honestly, I came here assuming _he_ was king.” You deeply hoped you weren’t spilling away any secrets.

The king seemed stunned for a moment. “Follow me, lady.” You obeyed, following him to a room near the throne hall. As he closed the door behind you, a bright light surrounded him, and in the place of the old man was one you instantly recognized as Loki himself. “I suppose there is no point in hiding”, he said, more to himself than to you.

You blinked. “What?”, was all you could say.

“I have my reasons to do this”, he replied, seemingly offended. “Now, you said you were looking for me and Thor to repair your timer.”

“Yes. It was built on Earth, or Midgard as you called, but Asgard is more technologically advanced, and I guessed it would be safer to come here than to my obvious birth planet.”

He nodded. “A wise decision. I suspected you were not from this dimension since you showed up. My mother would probably have sensed exactly what you were, but she died before she could teach me more advanced magic. I will see how can I help you.” A pause. “Thanos kidnapped me once. You must know of the Chitauri invasion, since it was on your planet.” You nodded. “I won’t say I was innocent, but under a right mind I’d never try to destroy Midgard and rule it. Thanos used the Mind Stone on me, in a refined and twisted way. Mother spent months working on cleaning my mind off his influence. Point is, I know how destructive Thanos is and wants to be. One of my goals as king is to strengthen Asgardians forces to defeat him, but I suppose this doesn’t happen in your future.”

You shook your head. “I don’t know what happened to this planet, but it was abandoned in 2018. There is little left of your people, and they live on a settlement on Earth. The last defense against Thanos before he used the Stones were the Avengers, and an army from Wakanda, which is a country on Earth.”

He frowned. “Only one army fought against him?”

“Earth wasn’t aware of the threat until it was too late.”

He nodded slowly. “I understand. Well, we can’t let him reach you again. You said you were told you escape pod has no track inside, but I don’t think we can rely on that information. We need to act fast.”

A knock was heard. Loki assumed his disguise again and opened it. Skurge was panting. “An army arrived at the bridge. Thor seems to be with them, but he looks… quite different.”

“Let them come”, he said solemnly. Skurge nodded and hurried back. “I suppose they come from your future. How… different is Thor?”

You sighed. “He suffered a lot from losing you… and losing everyone else. He’s depressed, and it took a lot of effort to even bring him to battle.”

Loki’s Old Man face was sad as he left the room and led you back to the throne hall.

Steve must have seen you before you saw him - or anyone else -, because he hurried to you and hugged you before you could even wave at the team. “Thank God you’re okay”, he whispered. You hugged him back as tightly as you could.

“Thank you for coming”, you replied. He broke the hug and looked at you.

“Are you _kidding_ me? I’d _die_ before I let anything happen to you.”

Your heart skipped several beats at his words, and you were sure your cheeks were red.

“Hey, hey, let the poor girl breathe a little!”, you heard Stark say, and tilted your head to see him approach you. At the back, Loki had already dropped his disguise, and seemed to be having a heartfelt talk with Thor. You also noticed, with great delight, that there were many faces you didn’t recognize, meaning Nebula followed your wishes and brought everyone back before coming. “I brought you a new timer. It’s quicker than trying to repair this one here.” He gave you the timer as you took the broken one off. Just as you were placing the new one on your wrist, the castle started shaking - you almost let the timer fall, but you held it tight.

“What’s happening?”, you shouted.

“Thanos is here!”, someone you didn’t know (an Avenger brought from the ashes, you guessed) exclaimed. “Shooting at us!”

Your eyes widened. “I thought the escape pod was untraceable!”

“And it _is_!”, someone exclaimed. Gamora was there? “I don’t know how they found out!”

You saw Steve turning to her with anger in his expression, but Nebula - _your_ Nebula - jumped in her sister’s defense. “Was 2014 me aware of where the pod was going?” Gamora nodded. “Then Thanos checked the footage of her eye upon retrieving her body.”

You bit your lip, trying to hold back tears. 2014 Nebula had _died_ aiding your escape, then. And you feared she was lying to you…

Steve sighed and turned to you. “All the more reason to get you back to our present”, he said. “Put on your timer on. I’ll go with you.”

You wholeheartedly agreed with him. You just wanted to go home. “But what about the rest of the team?”, you asked. “They all carry timers that can be stolen by Thanos.”

“Don’t worry about that”, Thor said, hand raised in your direction in a weird manner. “This Asgard can defend itself.”

“Okay…”, you said, “but what exactly are you doing? This doesn’t seem to help anything, with all due respect.”

“Sometimes it takes time to get here”, Loki replied casually, as if you were supposed to know what he was talking about.

You imitated Thor’s gesture to see if it helped you understand. When it failed, you asked “What takes time to-”, you were interrupted by an impact on your hand.

You screamed.

“WHY IS THERE A HAMMER IN MY HAND?”

You felt hands on your shoulders and heard a laugh. Too tense to drop the hammer down, you turned to see Steve smiling. And half of the audience carrying surprised expressions on their faces. “What?”, you said.

Thor laughed loudly. “A worthy sister-in-arms!”

Loki frowned. “Since when does a Midgardian fits Odin’s spell of worth?”

It was your turn to frown. The ground began to shake more. “What spell of worth?”

It was a woman warrior who answered, “'Whosoever holds this hammer, if be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor’. I think you should stay and battle, after all. Thor already has Stormbreaker.”

You looked at Steve. “If that’s what you want”, he said. “I’m pretty sure you are capable of fighting at this point.” He was still smiling, as if he was proud of you. You made a mental note to ask more on that later.

There wasn’t much to think, though. The hall fell down, and while everyone managed to escape the ruins, Thanos and his army approached. You adjusted your new timer and prepared yourself, weapon in hand. Steve raised his shield.

* * *

The power of Thor was _awesome_. It came intuitively, as if you were born to hold that hammer, and it was beautiful to see.

However, it didn’t make you invulnerable to attacks, and the hammer wasn’t that good at defense. Thankfully, Steve was always by your side, and his shield helped a lot. A few knives on your pocket helped as well - thankfully, Gamora and Nebula didn’t empty your suit.

Speaking of the sisters, from a distance you saw the two of them uniting to kill Thanos. Most of his allies flew off after that, but his most loyal - and powerful - ones stayed and kept attacking. “I think we’re done here”, Steve whispered.

“I agree”, you said. “I’m okay with leaving.”

You dropped the hammer and activated your suit. There was no place for goodbyes as you and Steve turned the timer on.

* * *

_Avengers Headquarters, 2021_

You felt dizzy as you saw the time machine controls around you. You heard Banner’s voice ask where everyone else was. “They’ll come back anytime soon”, Steve replied as he held you. “I’ll take her to rest”, he added, and picked you bride-style. You instantly wrapped your arms around his neck.

All exhaustion from the day (God, it all been only a day) overwhelmed you as Steve took you to… a room. Your eyes couldn’t keep themselves open enough for you to see if it was yours or not.

You felt yourself being laid down on a bed, but couldn’t bring yourself to let go of Steve just yet. He was so warm… “Y/N?”, he prompted.

“You’re warm”, you said simply. “Warm…”, and darkness came again, but this time you welcomed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Action all packed, now it’s only fluff ahead! I decided against detailing the battle because of the following reasons:  
> \- It would be hard to describe the battle from the POV of someone who had no experience in fighting and would have little idea of what was happening.  
> \- This chapter was long enough already.  
> \- I didn’t want this fic to have too much graphic violence.  
> The person who announced Thanos’ arrival is Strange. The ‘woman warrior’ who recited Odin’s spell is Sif (in part 7, Sif is brought to fight after coming back; in canon she died in the Snap).


	9. Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Captain American Returning the Stones Should Have Ended

You woke up in the middle of the night with an urgent need to pee.

Your mentally cursed your bladder. There you were, in the dreamless sleep you had so desperately longed for, and now you knew you wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep unless you went to bathroom. Sighing, you tried to stand up, only to find yourself stuck by a pair of arms. Only then you realized your heard wasn’t rested on a pillow, but on someone.

That someone being Steve Rogers.

Your breath quickened. How did that happen? You barely remembered what happened after arriving back on your own timeline, only that Steve had been the one to take you. You couldn’t remember falling asleep at all, exhausted as you were.

Well, you were still too tired to think. Careful not to wake him up, you disentangled yourself from him and crawled out of bed. Fortunately, the room you were in was attached to its own bathroom. You didn’t want to wander around the place.

Relief washed over you as you finally managed to pee. Silently as you came, you left, crawled back to bed and rested your head on an actual pillow. As much as Steve made a great fake one, you wouldn’t dare to use him again, no matter how much you wanted to.

* * *

When you woke up again, the sun had already risen, and Steve was no longer there. You instantly felt yourself colder, but before you could mentally scold yourself, Steve showed up from the bathroom, toothbrush in hand. “Good morning, Sleeping Beauty”, he greeted, and you were positive you were blushing.

“Is that movie even from your time?”, you teased instead of actually replying. It was crazy; you had gotten used to tease Captain America of all people.

Then again, you two spent a month training together for almost 24/7, _and_ shared a bed now. Teasing shouldn’t be surprising.

“The Disney movie? No, it isn’t. But you do know Sleeping Beauty is an old fairy tale, right?”, he replied with a grin.

“Oh, I forgot”, you said sincerely. “My brain hasn’t completely woken up yet.”

“Mine either, to be honest”, he said, yawning. “Woke up twenty minutes before you, and almost couldn’t get out of bed. God, yesterday was _exhausting_.”

“Yeah.” You yawned back. “Pretty sure that day lasted more than 24 hours for us. Haven’t been this tired since I got out of my mom.”

He snorted and laughed at that. You giggled, unable to restrain yourself. His laugh sounded like music to your ears, as cliche as that sentence sounded.

“I don’t think even pre-serum me has ever felt this tired”, he replied. “But my super solder stomach woke me up begging for food. Want me to get something for you?”

You shook your head. “I just want a couple more hours of sleep. Can I stay here?” Now that your eyes were fully open, you could attest this wasn’t your room. (Or rather, Scarlet Witch’s.)

“Of course you can. See you later”, that said, he left the room, closing the door. A part of you wanted to melt at his kindness, but the rest of you just wanted to close your eyes and fall back asleep, and so you did.

* * *

_Intermission: Steve’s POV_

When he got in the kitchen, only Bucky was there. He had faintly heard the others arriving back the Headquarters, but he didn’t muster the energy to leave his room to greet them. You had fallen asleep still in his arms, and he laid down to try to disentangle you from him so he could sleep on the floor. However, he had underestimated his exhaustion; he fell asleep as soon as he felt the mattress on his back.

Not that he was complaining. It had been the best sleep he had gotten in years, and he was pretty sure your presence had something to do with it - even though you were no longer in his arms when he woke up, he smiled like an idiot upon seeing your sleeping self, wondering what it would be like if he woke up every morning like this.

 _Calm the fuck down_ , _Rogers_ , he thought to himself. He was being almost as worse than he was with Peggy after two years knowing each other. He had met you _a_ _month_ ago, for fuck’s sake.

“Is everyone still sleeping?”, he asked his best friend, who was eating a pair of toasts.

“If you mean everyone who stayed here, yes”, he replied. “All aliens went back home, including the Asgardians, which seem to have moved to… Norway, I think?” Steve nodded to indicate he guessed right. “Anyway, T’Challa, Okoye and Shuri went back to Wakanda through the wizard’s sling rings. Asked if I was going too, but I decided to at least wait for you.”

“I appreciate. I’ve missed you, buddy.” He side hugged his friend, who returned the gesture.

“Wish I could say the same”, he said. “But I didn’t even know three years had passed when I woke up. It felt like I had tripped and got knocked out for a couple minutes.”

Steve frowned, trying to remember how exactly did Bucky vanish. Then he snorted. “You fell face on the floor when you got dusted”, he said.

“Woke up facing the mud”, Bucky groaned. “Yeah, laugh all you want, you punk.”

“Jerk”, he replied immediately. “Anyway, what happened in Asgard after I left? You guys took a whole minute to come back. I heard.”

Bucky took another bite of toast before answering. “We managed to get rid of the rest of Thanos’ allies, either by killing them or just kicking them out of the planet for good. When everyone was about to leave, Loki and the green woman - Gamora, I think - asked to come to 2021 with us. Someone - not Tony - had the idea of bringing extra suits in case of failure, so we wouldn’t have a repeat of what happened to Y/N, and gave them to the two. But Thor told Loki that he had to stay and help his past self to defeat their sister Hela, who would come after Odin’s death to seek revenge and destruction. Loki then summoned Odin somehow, and they asked who wanted to help destroy Hela while Odin was still alive. I didn’t, so I came back, along with Sam, Rhodey, Tony and others.

“Some of the magically powerful ones stayed, and came back a few seconds later than us. Long story short, Hela was killed for good, in a cruel manner if you ask me - I’d rather spare you of the details the Asgardians so proudly told us -, Odin took the throne back, someone brought past Valkyrie to be trained for King, and Loki and Gamora came here. Thor is really happy, and Loki is worried by his brother’s looks, I think.”

“He had gone through some hard times, Buck”, Steve defended his teammate and friend. “It’s hard to describe when you weren’t here to see.”

Bucky nodded, and silence fell between the two. It was short-lived, though. “So, you got a girlfriend while I was away?”

He sighed. “Y/N is not my girlfriend, for starters, and I met her a month ago. You heard about it in the debrief before we went to rescue her.”

“Oh, that was a bad summary”, he complained. “I want the good quality content.”

Steve sighed, and told him all about the month spent with you, all while trying to keep his heart rate down and prepare his breakfast.

“You’ve got it bad, my man”, Bucky said in the end. “You should try to make a move, though. If you managed to fall for her in the span of a month, she might have at least a… what do they call now? Ah, a crush.”

“I might”, he replied after taking his first bite of food. “When we are all rested. I’m still not entirely sure if it’s a good idea, though. She is most likely going back to Y/Co to reunite with her family. That was the reason she came here, after all.”

A short silence. “You could follow her”, Bucky suggested quietly. “Personally, I think it’s about goddamn time Captain American retires, regardless of where you end up.”

There was no possible reply to that, so Steve kept his mouth shut and ate his breakfast.

* * *

_Back to reader’s POV_

According to an old digital clock in Steve’s room, it was nearly noon when you woke up for good. Your stomach seemed to agree it was lunch time.

After trying to make yourself minimally presentable, you headed to the kitchen, hoping to find something there. A lot of people were gathered inside, seemingly trying to cook lunch with varying degrees of success.

“Hey, Y/N!”, Natasha greeted you, holding a frying pan. “Lunch will be ready soon, make yourself at home!”

Steve smiled and waved at you. Stark, Potts, Barton, Danvers, Scott and Rhodes greeted you normally, while others introduced themselves: Sam Wilson (aka the Falcon), Hope Van Dyne (aka the Wasp, though you didn’t know that), Maria Hill, Nick Fury (who was just sitting around, actually), Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man), Wanda Maximov (aka Scarlet Witch) and… Bucky Barnes?

“Uh, with all due respect, weren’t you dead?”, you said bluntly.

He frowned. “I thought my identity was public knowledge”, he replied innocently.

“It might be the case in Wakanda”, Steve said, “but the files Natasha leaked don’t have any mention on the Winter Soldier’s civilian name.”

“There were theories on the internet”, you added, “but no one gave them credit, to be honest. Even after finding out HYDRA had developed the serum, nobody believed they had run tests as early as in World War II.”

“It makes sense”, Barnes said after a while. “They did try to strip me of my identity. There was no reason for my name to be written down. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Y/N Y/L/N. My buddy here has told me all about you.”

There was a glint in his eyes you couldn’t read into. “I hope all good things”, you replied. “Where is the rest?”

“Bruce is at med bay”, Natasha answered. “Taking care of his burnt arm. We still don’t know if it’ll heal.”

“Thor and the Asgardians went back to Norway”, Danvers added. “And the Guardians of the Galaxy took their spaceship and went… somewhere. I might leave soon too, after I visit some friends.”

“Strange went back to work”, Stark said. “Guy never rests. And Morgan is with a nanny Pepper hired at last minute. Did Happy already go to get her?”

“He left fifteen minutes ago, sir”, the disembodied voice you knew as FRIDAY answered.

“Great. We have a lot to celebrate after lunch.”

“And a job”, Steve replied. “Someone has to get the Infinity Stones back to their timelines.”

“True”, Scott agreed. “Who’s going to do it, by the way?”

* * *

That job fell into yours and Steve’s hands in the end. Or rather, it fell into _Steve’s_ hands and _you_ offered yourself to go along, not only because you wanted to travel across time and space once more, you wanted as much time as possible with him.

Working with the Avengers had been wonderful. Not only you successfully brought everyone back, you got to meet a lot of heroes from Earth and from _space_. There was a minor setback (okay, maybe the threat to your life wasn’t ‘minor’) but everything worked out in the end.

But you supposed it was time for goodbyes. You weren’t really suited for a hero’s life; you just wanted to go back to normal, with your family and friends by your side. However, you couldn’t say you wouldn’t miss the friends you had made.

Especially Steve. Your feelings for him only grew in the past weeks, and you were half sure you were in love. You were certain you weren’t meant to be, though. Steve was a man out of his time, and many of your talks showed that he still missed the past deeply. He carried a compass with Peggy Carter’s picture inside! If that wasn’t proof that he longed for the life he lost when he crashed the plane, you didn’t know what it was.

By nighttime, you two were suited up, carrying three Stones in each hand. The Mind Stone was back to the Scepter, the Time Stone was held inside a pendant, and the Power Stone was inside an orb, but no one managed to rebuild the Tesseract that held the Space Stone. Soul and Reality didn’t need anything else with them.

“Okay, let’s review one last time”, Stark said as he turned the time heist on. “Mind and Space Stones go back to New York in 2012. Time goes back to 2017 Strange, also in New York. Power is sent back to Morag, 2014. Soul and Reality to 2018. We all agree it’s too dangerous to send them back to Titan, right? So we take Soul back to Vormir and Reality to Knowhere.”

You and Steve nodded. Once again, you carried extra suits, timers and Pym Particles. Better to be safe than sorry.

“Okay, then. On 3… 2… 1…”

* * *

_Stark Tower, 2012_

The main hall was nearly empty. “Where is everybody?”, you asked Steve.

“Anywhere but here”, he replied. “Everyone got busy after the battle. HYDRA’s trying to retrieve the Scepter and the Tesseract, SHIELD agents are doing the same while evaluating Loki, and we are wrapping everything up.”

You nodded. The Scepter was in your hands. “Are we sure we should hand both of these back? From what you guys told me, these Stones will only bring more problems in the future.”

He turned to you with a thoughtful expression. “What do you suggest?”

You took the Mind Stone out of the Scepter. “Let’s switch Stones and throw Mind in the elevator shaft. It barely glows, so it will take quite a while for them to find it.”

You turned to him to get the Space Stone. He had a mischievous smile on his face. “I like the way you think, Y/N”, he said, handing you the Stone. You placed it on the Scepter. Then, as the elevator doors opened, you threw the other down. You and Steve were quietly laughing as you got in and waited to arrive at the floor the Avengers would be at.

When the doors opened, things were way more chaotic than you expected. Grinning, you simply threw the Scepter on the floor. “Let’s just suit up and go”, you suggested. He nodded, and you both left.

* * *

_New York, 2017_

This looks like a mansion”, Steve commented while standing in front of the Sanctum.

“The Sanctum in Y/Ci is much more modest”, you replied. “It was disguised as a tarot reading shop. Anyway, let’s get in. Strange must be waiting for us.” You knocked. Steve was the one holding the pendant with the Time Stone, ready to show it when needed.

It was Wong who opened the door. It was odd to see him and not be able to greet him like you would had you saw him in 2021. This Wong had never met you. “Oh, you came with the Eye of Agamotto”, he said. “Come in.”

Strange showed up soon after, coming from a random room. “Captain Rogers, Miss Y/L/N”, he greeted. “Thank you for returning the Stone to me.”

Steve handed him the pendant. “Before we go”, you said, “may I use the bathroom?”

“Of course”, Strange replied politely. “Captain, I have something for you in the meantime.”

After coming back from the bathroom, you tried to ask Steve what did Strange give you, but he simply waved it off. “I’ll tell you when we’re done.” You bid your farewells to Strange and Wong, and activated your suits.

* * *

_Vormir, 2018_

You could _smell_ death all around the planet. “What kind of planet is this?”, you whispered quietly to yourself.

“Let’s just deliver the Soul Stone and get out of here”, Steve said, probably just as tense as you were.

“I was thinking”, you replied. “We could let the Reality Stone here too. Buried under the sand, like we plan to do with the Power Stone.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“It’ll make it harder for Thanos—or anyone else—to find it. People come here to find the _Soul_ Stone. Nobody will think of looking for another.”

He nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but a voice stopped him. “Y/N, daughter of [your father’s first name]. Steve, son of Sarah.”

You both turned to see a floating red creature wearing a black robe. “ _Red Skull_?!”, Steve exclaimed. “What the _hell_ are you doing here? I thought the Tesseract had absorbed you.”

‘The Tesseract had _what_?’, you thought incredulously.

The red-faced man answered, “The Space Stone cast me out, banished me here, guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess. But it seems that you came to return it, instead.”

“Yes”, you replied, ignoring the fact that Steve apparently knew this guy. “We have no more use for it.”

“Alright, then”, ‘Red Skull’ said. “Follow me.”

And so they did. He led them to a cliff. “Normally, this is where you sacrifice one which you love to acquire the Stone. However, in your case, it is where you will return it.”

“I _knew_ it!”, you mumbled. A sacrifice was needed to get the Soul Stone, and this was how Thanos had killed Gamora.

Without hesitating, you threw both Stones down the cliff. “What have you done?”, Red Skull asked, his voice tone unreadable. “The Reality Stone cannot be acquired through the sacrifice.”

“That’s the point, Sunburn”, you replied with a grin.

“Well, it was nice seeing you again, Schimdt”, Steve said with a tone that pointed it hadn’t been nice at all, “but we have more work t—“

He was interrupted by an orange glow. Something floated up to them and fell on the cliff’s edge. When the glow faded, you immediately recognized Gamora.

“A soul for a soul”, you heard Red Skull say as Gamora stood up. “It seems that the deal goes both ways.”

“Where am I?”, Gamora asked. “Who are you?”

“You’re on Vormir, and we are allies”, Steve replied. “We’ve met your friends. Guardians of the Galaxy, right?” She nodded. “We can take you to Earth. Rocket and Groot are there.”

She frowned. “What about the others?”

“On Titan”, he said. “They were fighting Thanos last we saw them, and it’s too dangerous for us two to be near him. They are supposed to go to Earth afterwards, though.”

It took a couple minutes, but Gamora eventually agreed.

* * *

_Morag, 2014_

You dropped Gamora on 2018 Earth and quickly proceeded to your last destination. Past Peter Quill was no longer there, but none of you were really bothered. You two knelt and buried the orb near the temple it originally was. “At least this is a timeline with no Thanos”, Steve commented quietly. “Let’s go”, he said as you finished burying the Stone.

“Wait, Steve”, you said as you stood up. “You don’t have to come with me.”

He frowned. “What?”

You sighed. This was hard, but you knew it was the right thing to do. “You have extra Pym Particles. We both do. Steve… I know you never really moved on from the past. You still long for the life that was taken from you when you fell on the Artic. You don’t feel like you belong in our present, do you? _This_ is your chance to _rewrite_ your story, Steve. Go to 1945 and dance with Peggy. Find Bucky while he still hasn’t turned to the Winter Soldier. Get _rid_ of Zola and HYDRA before they take over. Make everything right. You’ve fought for _so long_ , you deserve to rest.”

His eyes widened, but he said nothing. You took that as an agreement on his part. “Go be happy, Steve. You deserve it more than anyone I know.” You suited up and proceeded to turn your timer on. Before you could go back to your time, you had an idea. It was entirely impulsive, but it was your only chance. “May I do something? You can push me out at any time.”

He nodded slowly, seemingly still processing what you had told him previously. Gently, you placed your hands on both sides of his face, stood on your toes, closed your eyes and kissed him on the lips. It was brief, nothing more than a peck—you didn’t want to stay enough to find out if he’d kiss you back or not—but it was everything you ever wanted. You backed out fast, and activated your timer. “Thank you for everything”, you said.

Your last thought as you entered the Time Heist was that you never got to know what Strange had given him.

* * *

_Avengers Headquarters, 2021_

You opened your eyes to see Steve looking at you with a small smile. You frowned. “ _What_?”

He let out a quiet laugh. “I think we need to talk a bit, huh?” You nodded, still shocked to see him there, looking exactly like he did when you saw him. “Let’s go to my room.”

You waved to Stark and followed Steve to his room. There, he sat on the bed and gestured for you to sit beside him. “I thought you were going to follow my suggestion”, you said quietly.

He smiled. “I kind of did. I _did_ go to 1945, but not to Peggy’s home. I went to the Arctic, shortly after the plane crashed, and rescued my past self.

“After he came to his senses, I told him I was from the far future. I gave him a notebook Strange gave me when we were in 2017. He said the notebook had showed up at the Sanctum with my name in it. When I opened, waiting for you to come back from the bathroom, there were notes regarding Peggy, HYDRA, Bucky, the Starks, the Avengers and many other things. When you suggested I should go back, I understood what I _truly_ had to do.

“I told past me to go fix my timeline, and live the life I hadn’t been able to. When he seemed to understand, I helped him find a way to go back to US.”

You bit your lip. His story was clear, but there was still something you didn’t understand. “But _why_ didn’t you do it yourself? Why did you gave it to the _other_ Steve?”

He reached your face and tucked a lock of hair behind your ear. “For someone so smart, you can be really oblivious sometimes.”

You blinked, heart rate increasing. It couldn’t be, could it? “What do you mean?”

He grinned wide, hand rested on the crook of your neck. “She wasn’t _my_ Peggy, he wasn’t _my_ Bucky. That timeline didn’t belong to _me_. You were right in a way. That Steve I saved will surely be happy now… but _I_ wouldn’t.”

He turned in your direction. “Once upon a time, Peggy was the love of my life. But I’ve moved on from her. Yes, I missed her. Yes, I wish Bucky and I had gone back from the war and had peaceful lives. But I made a life for myself here, a good one. I have friends, a nice home… and I found someone new. Someone to love.”

You gulped. He kept on, “I was afraid she wouldn’t like me back. After all, _I_ was the idiot who fell in love after only a month of knowing her. But then… she _kissed_ me, can you believe it? Right after telling me to go chase another woman. She wanted me to let her go after _kissing_ me, but I _couldn’t_. Not when I had a chance to be with her.”

You were sure you had stopped breathing. Steve had just said he _fallen in love_ with you. _You_. It couldn’t be real.

“Me?”, you whispered, afraid to speak any louder and wake yourself up from that dream—because that _had_ to be one. “You… love _me_?”

“Don’t look so surprised, Y/N”, he said softly. “A beautiful woman shows up at my home one day, offers me a chance to get my friends and half of the universe _back to life_ after spending _three years_ devoting herself to find said chance—years that could have been spent on chasing her own dreams—, gives emotional support not only to me but to other members of the team, treats me as a person instead of a hero, nearly _sacrifices_ herself so Thanos wouldn’t go after us, is worthy of _wielding Mjölnir_ and shows to put everyone above herself. Not to mention she’s funny as hell, has good taste in film and music and gives the best hugs of the century. How could I _not_ fall in love?”

Your breath returned, but quicker than it should be. He was looking at you as if you were his whole world, and there was nothing else to look at.

You still couldn’t understand how and why someone as wonderful as Steve fell for an ordinary woman like you, but you’d be damned if you let him go. “You know, I’m _really_ relieved to hear that, because I fell in love with the most amazing man I’ve ever met. I think you might know him. Steve Rogers. He’s pretty handsome for a centenary man, and his smile makes me want to melt on spot. Not to mention he’s always been kind to me and laughs at my bad jokes. Oh, and he’s a hero, did you hear? Captain America, paragon of virtue and a moral compass for an entire nation. You’d think the guy would have an ego twice his size, but he’s actually really humble, and lives up to his reputation. He makes me want to be a better person, every day, and look, he’s Catholic like me, meaning my dream of getting married at church is still within reach…”

Yes, you were rambling in an attempt to hide your nervousness. He didn’t seem bothered by it, though. When you stopped talking to take a breath, he asked, “May I kiss you? You didn’t gave me the opportunity to kiss you back in Morag, and I really, _really_ want to show you how mad you were to think I’d leave you for Peggy.”

Unable to answer that with words, you nodded. His lips reached yours, and everything else faded away.


	10. Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years later, life is wonderful.

Sam Wilson was a great Captain America. Not only he was good at his job, the fact that the mantle that once belonged to Steve was now in a black man’s shoulders gave everyone hope for a better future.

“You must be really proud of him”, you said over coffee.

He smiled and nodded. Despite having moved to Y/Ci, Steve and you weren’t living together. He rented his own apartment near yours. You still saw each other everyday, though. You kept teaching him to speak Y/N/L [A/N: ignore this if you speak English], and all about your country’s culture and habits.

You were welcomed back as a _hero_. Later, you found videos where Steve told the international press that, without you, they would have never been able to reverse the Decimation. There weren’t many details, since no one wanted to make public the fact that they discovered time travel, but enough to make it clear your role was essential in bringing everyone back.

You received many invitations to join psychiatric residency in many big cities. _Invitations_. No one had ever heard of such a thing before. In the end, you stayed in your home city; its residency program was one of the best in the country anyway, and you missed your family too much to leave them behind.

Steve, on his part, thrived as an artist. His history as former hero gave him celebrity-like status, which helped him greatly. Of course, Steve being Steve, he helped promoting other artists of all kinds, from drawing/painting to writing, acting, dancing… everyone loved him. Who wouldn’t?

Moments like these reminded you how lucky you were. _Everyone_ loved Steve, but he chose _you_. Out of millions, he chose to love _you_ and be with _you_. Sometimes it was still hard to believe that.

But he always did his best to remind that no, this wasn’t a dream, and yes, you were worth his love and affection, and you loved him for it. You talked about the subject a few times after the day you confessed to each other. He knew you had trouble adjusting to your hero status, and given you kind of retired with him, this situation was unlikely to change. You still saw yourself as an ordinary woman who did what she had to do, and there were days you forgot how much effort you made to get there - the years you gave up to achieve your goal, the lack of self-care - so Steve would often remind you of them.

Your family and friends also played a part in that. Whenever you felt down (usually because of something regarding your job) and thinking you weren’t capable, they’d remind you of what you’ve done two years ago. Being a doctor couldn’t possibly be harder than that, right?

Right. You just had to remind yourself of that sometimes. It was easy to fall into a routine and forget the path you took to get there.

Steve suddenly spoke up, interrupting your train of thought. “Hey, Tony invited us to Morgan’s birthday next Saturday. Are you busy in any way?”

You frowned, trying to remember any commitment. “No, I’m free”, you finally answered. “But he should have invited us sooner. I’m not sure we’ll be able to find plane tickets to New York in such short notice.”

He smiled. “Oh, that won’t be a problem”, he said. “He convinced Strange to teleport us if needed.”

Your eyebrows arched at that. “Well, if that’s the case, you can tell him we’ll need it.”

Steve’s smile widened in an odd way. “Great. I’ll tell him.” He stood up and went to get his phone at his room. You took the time to get yours and message your mother friends. What to get for a 5-year-old rich girl?

* * *

For some reason, you had expected the passage through Strange’s sling ring to bring you some nausea or dizziness, but you felt nothing as you crossed the minimally small path between Steve’s apartment and Stark’s home.

It was themed birthday party, but you couldn’t recognize which cartoon it was. Pepper told you, but since you had never heard of it before (it was possible it didn’t even air in Y/Co), you forgot it pretty fast.

Everyone was there, even the Guardians of the Galaxy. Apparently, Tony and Nebula had bonded in the three years of the Decimation, to the point Morgan called the blue alien ‘Aunt Neb’. Thor, Loki, Valkyrie and Sif were also there, and Thor/Sif and Loki/Valkyrie seemed to be the couples. “Wasn’t Valkyrie lesbian?”, you whispered to Steve.

“I don’t think Asgardians view sexuality the way we do”, he whispered back. Fair enough, you thought, and proceeded to greet Clint, who brought his entire family to the party. There were many kids, presumably from Morgan’s school. Parker seemed to like to play with them, while the girl who looked like his girlfriend stayed far from the children.

Carol had showed up with a woman and a teenage girl. She introduced the woman, Maria Rambeau, as her girlfriend, and the girl as her goddaughter. Apparently she had been staying more on Earth than outside it, even though she still had missions on space every and then.

Bucky, Natasha and Sam seemed to be a trio, now that Clint and Steve were retired. Tony settled down as well, leaving the ‘superheroing’ to his friend Rhodes and to Parker. He still spent quite some time on his workshop, though, and his works included a new Vision. Wanda was happier with that than she probably should, but who were you to judge?

King T’Challa (and his wife, Queen Nakia), Princess Shuri and General Okoye (along with her husband you had never heard of until today) had come as well. Wakanda had gotten a lot of spotlight over the years, since they revealed to be the most technologically advanced nation in the world. T’Challa’s decision to share of their knowledge to the world was source of many polemics, because everyone had an opinion on how much he should share. He seemed to be handling everything gracefully, though.

Overall, the party was great. You caught up a lot with the friend you hadn’t seen in a year, and had fun. There were many times you forgot that you were among heroes, and that _you_ were considered one.

Near sunset, most of Morgan’s classmates had gone home, and most guests were Avengers. You were talking with Loki about Asgardian medicine (of which he had a great knowledge than you expected a royal to have) when Steve called you. “I wanted to show you something”, he said.

You excused yourself and followed Steve to the riverside (the Starks lived _near a river_ , how cool was that?). “It’s beautiful at sunset”, you said truthfully. “Is that what you wanted to show me?”

“Not really”, he replied, “though it’s a nice bonus. Actually, it’s a gift. Mind if you close your eyes?”

You shook your heard and did as told. When he told you to open them, you were greeted by the sight of Steve on one knee, holding a small velvet box.

Oh. My. God.

“Y/N, you should know by now how much I love you”, he began. You found yourself suddenly unable to breathe. “You are, without a doubt, the best that has happened to me after I came back from the ice. You came into my life in one of the craziest ways possible, and wormed into my hear without even noticing. You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, and you deserve all happiness and love in this world. And all I want to do is to give you exactly that. I want you to be the first thing I see in the morning and your voice to be last sound I hear before falling asleep. I want to show you every day how special you are. Please, allow me to love you for the rest of our lives, the way you’ve always dreamed of. Y/N Y/L/N, will you marry me?”

Your legs were shaking. Actually, your entire body was shaking, and you found you couldn’t speak. Was this truly happening?

Slowly so you wouldn’t fall flat on the grass, you crouched down and grabbed his face. You felt tears in your eyes as you finally managed to whisper, “Yes.”

His smile was so bright it nearly blinded you. He carefully opened the box and slipped the silvery ring on your finger. You barely had time to admire it before he grabbed you by the wait, stood up and lifted you, kissing you right after. You smiled into the kiss, remembering an early interview when you went back to Y/Co.

> _“If you could go back in time, would you have changed anything about the past three years?”  
>  _
> 
> _You had wanted to giggle at that - you were able to go back in time if you wanted to. But you restrained yourself._
> 
> _“I don’t see anything worth changing, ma’am”, you replied instead. “Our mission was successful in every possible way.”  
>  _

You had brought your family and friends back. You were about to make your dream of becoming a psychiatric come true, you had great heroes as true friends. And now you were about to marry the love of your life, Steve Rogers.

Yes, your mission was successful in every possible way, indeed.


	11. Different Roads, Same Destination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the Avengers went back in time to get the Infinity Stones, new timelines were created. By not delivering them back to their exact same spots, you and Steve created major changes in those timelines. What happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now it's the sequel!

_2024_

You and Steve have been married for six months, and things couldn’t be better. Your relationship was based on mutual love, respect and admiration, which led to few fights, all resolved quickly. _Never go to bed without speaking to each other_ was one of the first rules you two agreed upon; you heard enough of marriages that ended due to lack of communication to know how big of an issue that could be.

You had finished your residency program not long ago, and were thriving as a psychiatrist. Many people contacted you thanks to your past as ‘honorary Avenger’ (a title coined by Stark and made popular by Romanov). Steve also made good money as artist; the online marketing courses you did together helped a lot.

You would visit the Avengers every now and then, usually using Strange and Wong’s portals. The Stark family moved back to New York and settled in the Avengers compound; Morgan seemed to be as smart as her parents. Natasha had tried living with the Bartons, but soon realized she was a urban person and went back to NY, becoming Morgan’s ‘Aunt Tasha’. Bruce became a college professor, teaching regularly at Columbia and giving lectures across US. Clint retired for good, but stayed working as a professional archer, training young people who aspired to get in the Olympics.

Thor married Sif, passed the crown to Loki and Valkyrie, and left Earth with the Guardians of the Galaxy. The couple often visited, though, usually with Nebula, who was still Morgan’s favorite aunt. Carol settled in New Orleans, but often left for missions when the Guardians call her. Rhodey stayed on military service, and Sam kept running VA meetings. Wakanda was prospering, as always, and Princess Shuri often went to NYC to work with Tony on projects. Strange and Wong often got busy training new wizards, though Strange went back to medical practice to earn more money for the Sanctum.

Bucky officially joined the Avengers, and stayed at the compound with the Starks, Natasha, Wanda, the newly-rebuilt Vision, Rhodey, Sam and Peter Parker (who favored Columbia over MIT for college). Nick Fury and Maria Hill also lived there, where they started rebuilding SHIELD. Morgan was beyond excited to have so many people in her new home.

Scott, your first ally in US, married Hope shortly before you married Steve, and was going to be a father again. He went to New York for a baby shower at the compound, and, of course, you and Steve went too.

Somehow, while talking with Bucky and Natasha, the subject of time travel was brought up - more specifically, the fact that Steve went to 1945 to rescue his other self from the ice. “I wonder what that other punk did with his life”, Bucky said.

“I wonder that too”, Steve replied. “I gave him _a lot_ of instructions. Wouldn’t be surprised if he missed something.”

“Do you think we can see it? Like, go to that timeline and see what he did?”

Steve glanced at you. Oh, right. You were the one who knew most about time travel. “It’s a possibility. We’d have to ask Strange and Wong, though. I have no practice in the Mystic Arts, only theoretical knowledge.” As much as the Master in Y/Ci offered to give you formal training, you declined, having no interest in becoming a sorcerer. You still remembered most of your studies from 2020-2021, though.

Without saying a word, Natasha stood up from the couch and approached Strange, who was having a drink. After a brief exchange, she whistled and clapped, getting everyone’s attention. “Movie time, guys! And you will _love_ our picks for today!”

Strange rolled his eyes and sighed, but you smiled anyway. Everyone gathered around the couch you were sitting on, assuming the movie would play on TV. Instead, Strange came to their view and explained.

“Some people here”, he started, looking pointedly at the four of you, “wanted to know what happened in the alternate timelines that were created in the quest to retrieve the Infinity Stones. Although I got considerably weaker after the physical destruction of the Time Stone, Wong and I still have enough power to fulfill such a request.” Then he properly turned to you. “How many timelines?”

You and Steve exchanged glances. After a couple seconds, he answered, “Five.”

Behind you, many voiced their excitement over the prospect of watching the timelines. Sighing, Strange called Wong and sat on the floor. After some silent meditation of their part, something similar to a portal opened, but, instead of showing another place, it showed another time period.

“That’s 2012″, Steve whispered. You leaned forward.


	12. Space and Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You placed the Tesseract in the Scepter and threw the Mind Stone in the elevator shaft. This changes everything.

_New York, 2012_

The Avengers were still trying to understand what happened when a loud ‘thud’ was heard. Tony turned to see the Scepter lying on the ground.

“Well, here is the thing Loki used to brainwash people”, he said. “But where is the Tesseract?”

“This isn’t the Mind Stone”, Loki said. “They placed the Tesseract in the Scepter.”

Everyone turned to him. He had already been right minutes prior, when he pointed out there were four Avengers from the future. Now the team was more inclined to believe him again, especially Thor.

“How do you know this, brother?”, he asked, frowning.

“The glow is different, for starters. And… I don’t know how to say this accurately, but I feel different when the Mind Stone is near me. Ever since those warriors came from the future and took it, I felt… _lightweight_ , even if for brief moments. As if…”

Thor’s eyes widened. “As if the Mind Stone has some sort of power over you.” Loki nodded weakly. “Well, this is important information. Mother will certainly know to fix this. Stark, hand me the Scepter. It will be safer in Asgard.”

A SHIELD agent opened his mouth to protest, but there was little they could do as Tony gave Thor the Scepter. The Asgardian walked to the open balcony, his brother in his arm, and left, though not without asking his ‘brothers-in-arms’ to find the Mind Stone first.

“We’ll do surveillance around the Tower”, Runlow said, “with your permission, Mr. Stark.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. I don’t want that thing near any of us.”

* * *

_“Wait”, Tony said. “Loki was under mind control back then?”_

_You turned behind to face him, but a quick glance told you almost everyone was surprised. “You didn’t know? He told me back in 2014.”_

_Loki wasn’t there to defend himself, busy as he was being king, but Thor was. “Honestly, I didn’t know either, not until Asgard was destroyed. Loki told me on our way here that Mother chose to perform her purification spells out of everyone’s eye because… It would be better (or less worse) to have people believe Loki had turned evil than to have them know about Thanos. But yes, he was under Thanos’ influence through the Mind Stone. It wasn’t exactly like what he did to Barton and others, but close enough.”_

_That made an awful lot of sense. No one had a good answer for that, and they turned back to the ‘screen’._

* * *

It took five years for the Mind Stone to be found. In the meantime, SHIELD was dismantled, the Winter Soldier was revealed to be a brainwashed Bucky Barnes and HYDRA was taken down piece by piece.

There was no Scarlet Witch, no Quicksilver, no Ultron, no Sokkovia Accords, no Zemo. Steve found Bucky in Bucarest in 2016 and, after weeks of talking and with Sam’s help, took him to New York. There, they faced another battle, as many people wanted him in jail for the crimes he committed as the Winter Soldier.

Surprisingly, their help came from Tony. “I know what he did to my parents, yeah. I read all those files Romanov leaked. But we all saw what brainwashing does to a person, huh?”

No, Tony and Bucky didn’t become friends. Despite his forgiveness, Tony was still wary of him; poor man had his own mental health issues to face already. But he was willing to pay the best lawyers to convince the public that Barnes had no control over himself for the past seven decades, and that the Winter Soldier was nothing but a weapon in HYDRA’s hands. It took time and money, but it was worth it, for Bucky was absolved and reclaimed his status as war hero.

Even so, he didn’t want to stay in US. “Too many memories”, he explained, and Steve understood. It all got worse when one of Tony’s employees found a glowing Stone in the elevator shaft. Thor wasn’t on Earth when it happened, so the Mind Stone stayed at the Tower for a while. Needless to say, Steve was worried, and Bucky was terrified.

“I found a place that might be good for you”, Maria Hill told him one day. “Y/Ci, in Y/Co. It’s a place untouched by HYDRA and with no evidence that the Winter Soldier ever stepped foot in there. No memories, no triggers.”

Bucky accepted the offer almost immediately, and Steve was happy to follow him. “I’ve had enough fights for a lifetime”, he said. “We should have retired from soldier duty _decades_ ago, Bucky. We both deserve a normal life.”

It was early 2018 when they finally settled, and, upon Steve’s insistence, Bucky started looking for mental health care facilities.

* * *

_Your grip on Steve’s hand tightened when you recognized the mental health facility Bucky got inside. “I was an intern there at college”, you said. Steve’s eyes widened, and he grinned._

_“Maybe Bucky will be the one to get you instead of me”, he teased._

_Behind you, whispers could be heard._

_“It’s weird to not see myself with you guys”, Wanda said. “I wish I could know if Pietro is alive.” Vision rested his hand on her shoulder, likely reflecting on how would his life be if he had stayed as a disembodied voice.  
_

_“Wakanda wasn’t even mentioned”, Shuri said. “I guess with father still alive, the borders remained closed.”  
_

_“Probably the reason why Bucky moved to Y/Co instead of Wakanda”, Sam added. “If people still think Wakanda is a poor country, no one would think of it as a mental health care reference.”  
_

_“I’m not mentioned either”, Scott said, “which is kind of weird, because I don’t see why I wouldn’t meet at least Sam.”  
_

_“Yeah, but there was no fight in Germany for you to take part of”, Hope replied. “They probably never contacted you again. Parker isn’t mentioned either.”_

_Someone shushed them._

* * *

Even though he had scheduled it all by himself, Bucky didn’t want to go his first appointment alone. So, when Y/N called for Sebastian Stan (his new alias), he and Steve (who called himself Chris Evans) stood up together from their seats.

Inside, Bucky soon confessed his true identity. Your surprise was visible for five seconds, and then you smiled. “I’m glad you trusted me with such a delicate information, Mr. Barnes. But I wish you’d tell me your story with your own words, not just what was said about you on newspapers.”

Steve stayed inside the whole time, having also revealed who he was. Bucky didn’t tell his whole story at once, give there was a time limit for his appointment, but you asked him to come back in a week. “We can’t give you any concrete diagnosis for now, Mr. Barnes, though we have a few suspicions. But I assure you we’ll help you in every step of your recovery. You won’t be alone.”

After three more sessions, he was diagnosed primarily with PTSD, along with general anxiety disorder and memory problems (he had yet to remember key details of his past).

You were supposed to leave the facility at the end of the month, but your mentor offered you a prolonged stay. “You mentioned your next internship would be in surgery, and you don’t like it, right? I can pull some strings to keep you here. It’s not like you’ll need those skills to become a psychiatrist.”

You happily accepted his help. You’ve always been sure of what you wanted to do after finishing college; skipping surgery internship was honestly a dream come true, and you were eager to follow Barnes’ case. Your classmates didn’t know his true identity, but the case discussions made it clear you got one of the most complex cases at the facility, and some classmates envied you.

Your teacher was successful, and for the following three months you stayed, taking care not only of Barnes, but of other patients as well. It was a wonderful experience, and you were sure you had fallen into the staff’s good graces, which increased your chances at getting into residency program there after graduation.

As the weeks went by, though, you noticed something rather odd. Barnes had been getting inside the room alone since his fifth appointment, but Rogers still accompanied him, waiting for him outside. Eventually, you asked your patient why that was, assuming he’d say he still didn’t feel safe coming alone. Instead, he grinned.

“Oh, he pretends he comes for my sake, but he actually just wants to get a glimpse of you.”

You nearly choked on your own saliva.

* * *

_At your side, Steve laughed and hugged you tight._

_“Guess I didn’t steal Y/N from you after all, punk”, Bucky said, grinning just like his alternate counterpart._

_“Thank God”, you replied. “No offence, Bucky, but seeing us dating would have been way too awkward.”  
_

_“Couldn’t agree more.”  
_

* * *

It wasn’t easy for Steve to convince you to go on a date with him. You were hesitant, given he was her patient’s best friend and roommate, but eventually you conceded.

“We won’t talk about Barnes at all”, you said firmly. “And if I sense this will affect my relationship with my patient, it’ll be over.”

“Yes, ma’am”, he replied instantly, willing to do anything to see you more.

You had charmed him from day one, and his interest on you only grew as weeks went by. When the day of your date arrived, he was a nervous wreck.

“Haven’t seen you like this since Peggy”, Bucky mentioned.

“Shut up, jerk”, he retorted. “And go hide, I don’t want Y/N to see you and cancel our date.”

“She’s got you wrapped around her finger and you haven’t even kissed yet”, he teased, but left to his room anyway.

A date led to another, and another, and another… Steve waited for you to leave the facility and stop seeing Bucky to ask you to be his girlfriend, and she promptly agreed.

A year later, when you met the Avengers for the first time, Thor told the story of how he, Loki and others fought Thanos when he invaded Asgard to take the Space and Mind Stones. Your eyes widened as he gleefully detailed the purple alien’s demise.

“Glad you defeated him still in Asgard”, Tony said. “We just found out about another of these Stones here on Earth. A wizard here in New York is its guardian.”

“Really? Give me his address, I figure we have much to discuss.”

You didn’t really understand all those talks, but Steve’s visible relief was enough information for you.

* * *

_On the current timeline, that same relief was visible among everyone. “A peaceful timeline”, you commented. “I hope there are more of these.”_

_After Strange showed what happened to the Avengers who were not featured, Wong took his place to show another timeline. You straightened your back as the ‘screen’ showed you briefly kissing Steve in Morag._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? I was looking forward to write about the consequences of those changes. Butterfly effect is strong here.  
> For those who don’t remember, Loki told Reader he was under the influence of the Mind Stone in the events of the first Avengers movie. This is a popular theory that explains some differences between his behavior in that movie and his behavior on… well, any other movie he’s in.  
> In this, I try to touch on how things would be different if this information was made known right away, instead of being kept a secret. Being seen as a victim instead of a villain changes a lot for Loki’s story, and therefore Thor’s arc as well. It also helps Tony understand Bucky’s story and actions better, since he saw the effects of mind control on Clint and Loki.  
> Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Ultron and Vision are all products of the Mind Stone, meaning that, in its absence, they don’t exist. The events of Age of Ultron are what make Civil War happen, meaning one doesn’t exist without the other. With no Civil War, nobody reaches out to Scott, T’Challa doesn’t become king to open the borders, and Peter Parker’s role in Tony’s life is probably less significant (though I do believe he mentors the teenager anyway).


	13. Power and Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In one timeline, Thanos dies in 2014. In another, Strange goes to battle already knowing you'll play a part in the endgame.

There was no argument: an universe without Thanos was a better one. However, this time nothing much changed on Earth. Ultron and Sokkovia still happened, leading to a huge break on the Avengers in 2016.

Thor’s search for the Stones in 2015 ended before it began, when Odin and Valkyrie told him about what happened in Asgard a year before. With that, he began his search for Bruce/Hulk instead, which took a lot longer now that there was no Hela no fight, no bridge to fall, to Sakaar to end up in.

Meanwhile, with no huge threat to unite the team, the Avengers were still broken up, half of them on the run. Bucky recovered under Shuri’s care, and Steve, Natasha and Sam visited him whenever they could (sometimes with Wanda).

Scott stayed in LA, away from any Avenger, focusing on Hope and Cassie. Clint made peace with Tony, and two would visit each other from time to time, but the scars were always there. It was never the same, especially with Bruce still MIA.

With that, we skip to 2020. Having opened itself to the word three years prior, Wakanda received tourists and exchange students often. At early February, you stepped foot on Wakandan soil, ready to begin your studies on Mental Health.

Princess Shuri herself was one of your mentors; you were in awe to see someone so young being so knowledgeable. You two got along rather well, and she’d invite you to have dinner at a royal facility once a week.

You were supposed to stay there for two months, but then the COVID-19 pandemic came, and you were unable to go back to Y/Co. Shuri invited you to stay over at the palace, assuring you would be no burden. There, you met Sergeant Barnes, formerly known as Winter Soldier, along with the fugitive Avengers, who got stuck in the country as well. “I’m touched that you trusted me to see them”, you told Shuri.

“Wakanda un-signed the Accords in 2017″, she explained. “If there weren’t so many tourists, they would be free to walk around.”

However, with the national lockdown, you all had to stay at the palace. Inside, there was little to no need for social distancing, so you and the team had a lot of time to interact with one another. It wasn’t long before Steve started flirting with you. It took a while for you notice (because having Captain America interested on you was definitely _not_ something you imagined would ever happen), but soon you agreed to date him.

* * *

_“You guys are clearly soulmates”, Tony said behind you. “Seriously. You end up meeting each other no matter how crazy the circumstances!”_

_Everyone laughed, but they agreed with Tony. Some things seemed to never change._

_“Hey”, Steve said, grinning. “Remember when we had to tell you all about COVID-19 because you managed to stay the whole crisis at the Sanctum in Y/Ci?”  
_

_You groaned. “Don’t remind me… 2020 was the wildest of roller coaster rides and I missed it entirely.”_

_“Don’t feel bad, Y/N”, you heard Scott say, “you were busy trying to save the universe. The rest of them was just moping around with hand sanitizer.”  
_

_Another set of laughs. Soon after, there wasn’t much else for you to see aside for the eventual rescue of Bruce, a year after the end of the pandemic. Strange switched back with Wong, and another timeline was shown._

* * *

You and Steve left the Sanctum in 2017, and Strange and Wong went on with their lives, although now fully aware of the impending threat. Upon being defeated on Titan, Strange told Tony to remember one name: Y/N Y/L/N.

“I saw her with Captain America, coming from the future”, he said. “I don’t know much, but she’s important.”

Tony almost forgot that name in the days after the Snap, concerned as he was with surviving. It was Nebula who reminded him. “That man told you someone was important for our fight”, she said after coming back from another confront with Thanos, in which Thor finally killed him.

He was still weak, but he remembered. “He said she was from the future. That means someone figured time travel.” A groan. “I need to find Cap again.”

Steve had never heard of any Y/N Y/L/N before, but he tasked himself with finding her. Meanwhile, Tony gathered Bruce, Rocket, Nebula and Carol to figure out time travel. It took weeks, but with the help of social media you were found. Sadly, you had no idea how you could be helpful. “I was searching on Infinity Stones”, you told Steve and Natasha, “but found nothing you guys don’t already know.”

Even then, Tony insisted on bringing you in. Only after you were introduced to Wong that things progressed. In this timeline, you figured out about Scott and the mysterious van a year sooner, and the Snap was reversed in the middle of a pandemic.

* * *

_“Worst time to bring half of Earth back, guys”, Clint shouted. Steve groaned, but agreed._

_“We didn’t see Steve and Y/N getting together in this one”, Bruce pointed out.  
_

_“Oh please”, Rhodey replied. “As if that wouldn’t happen. We’ve seen crazier scenarios.”_

_A murmur of agreement could be heard._ _“There wasn’t much to see in this one”, Strange said. “I can show another before switching with Wong.”_

_After some time, another timeline appeared. Now, it showed you and Steve dropping Gamora in 2018 Earth._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the only chapter with two timelines shown, because those two were short enough to fit a single chapter.  
> I do believe the Avengers are not meant to stay apart forever, even without a big threat to reunite them. I’d guess Thor and Bruce’s return would be a turning point, given none of them took part of the fights and would likely see no reason for their peers not to make amends. But that would take time.
> 
> Originally, the second timeline shown was meant to be sadder than the main one. The Reader has little use to the Avengers before she learned about the Mystic Arts, and calling her too soon could actually make things worse, since they could place their hope on someone who had nothing to add. But then I remembered Wong and Tony know each other, and found a way to a happy ending. (And yes, Steve and Reader get together ‘offscreen’. If in doubt, check the story’s title haha)


	14. Soul and Reality

_Titan, 2018_

In an ideal world, the team would have taken advantage of Thanos being knocked unconscious to defeat him once and for all. However, they were all too stunned by what they just saw to do anything useful.

Why did Thor suddenly show up? When did he get fat with long hair and beard? Who were the women who showed up with him? Why did they only get two Stones and left? What _happened_ in those few minutes?

It was confusing as hell and, by the time any of them figured out those questions were not important at the moment, Thanos had already woken up and realized two Stones were missing. Enraged, he attacked the team viciously with the Power Stone, giving them little time to react.

They tried to fight him, they really did, but soon it was clear it was suicide to keep going, especially after Drax was brutally killed. Strange opened a portal and gave the Time Stone to Tony as he, Parker, Quill, Mantis and Nebula ran. Thanos ran to the portal, and all there was left for Strange was to close it without getting in. No one _saw_ it, but everyone knew the sorcerer didn’t make it.

They stepped in Wakanda, mid-battle. Thanos’ army was bigger than any of them (except Nebula) had anticipated. “The other Avengers must be here”, he said as he placed the Time Stone inside one of his pockets and suited back up. His tone was oddly calm. “Follow me. We need to get a clear perspective on what’s going on.”

Parker followed him with no further words; Quill, Mantis and Nebula exchanged glances and did the same, concluding they had no better options. Killing a few monsters on their way, they reached Captain America. Steve’s surprise was obvious. “Tony? You’re… you’re back.”

Something in his voice made Tony smile despite everything. “Yeah, I’m a tough thing, Rogers. You should know that by now. What’s our situation?”

Steve looked behind him, frowning as he saw Spider-kid, a young man and two female aliens (they looked no weirder than the aliens Thor brought a few moments before, however). When he turned back to Tony, though, he saw his former friend wouldn’t divulge further details any time soon, so he just debriefed the group on their current predicament.

“I’ll fetch Vision”, Tony said. Then he turned to the others. “Parker, Quill, Blue Meanie, Praying-Mantis, help our Cap over here with whatever he needs. Thanos may come at any minute now with the Space Stone still in his possession.”

“Fuck”, Parker cursed, but obeyed anyway, positioning himself on Steve’s back. The other three split around the field, doing what they could.

He found Wanda and a young girl leaning over Vision. Maximov hugged him briefly upon seeing him, and the girl introduced herself as Princess Shuri, not taking her eyes away from the screen she was using to work. “Wanda”, he said softly, “you should help them down there. I’ll protect Vision and Shuri.”

“I have to be here to destroy the Stone as soon as it’s taken out of him”, she replied, tense.

Steve had not told him _that_ ; then again, he was busy fighting and speaking at the same time. “Well then, maybe you could practice your Stone-destruction abilities in the meantime.” Then he dropped his suit to get the Time Stone out of his pocket.

Wanda’s eyes widened, silently asking _how, when, where, why_. He shook his head. Her expression softened. “Put that on the floor, near the glass window”, she instructed. “It’ll be safer that way.”

He suited up again and raised a shield to protect Shuri and his robot. It took time and energy, but she managed to do it. Shortly after that, a bunch of monsters jumped inside, breaking the glass window, but she and Tony quickly defeated them. Wanda sat down on the floor, seemingly unwell.

“Are you okay?”, he asked, expecting an elaborate answer.

“I feel something missing”, she replied quietly. “It reminds me of what I felt when Pietro died.” He gulped, but said nothing. They had to focus on their task: enable Shuri to do her job.

She did it, eventually. Vision did not shut down after she carefully removed the Mind Stone from his forehead, and Wanda destroyed it faster than her first time. She collapsed afterwards, drained from all the effort. Vision quickly stood up and fetched her from Tony’s arms. “Do you still feel something for her?”, he asked.

The AI was hesitant. “It’s… weaker, but yes. I suppose the Mind Stone played a big part on my ability to have emotions, though it clearly wasn’t the only factor.”

He nodded. It _was_ a relief. “I’ll go to the field”, he said at last. “I trust you two to protect Wanda and one another.”

“We can defend ourselves”, Shuri said with a small smile. “Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

* * *

_The room was silent. Out of all Guardians, only Thor, Sif and Nebula were present, so no one looked for Drax, but they’d glance at Strange every now and then._

_“I did what I had to do”, he said eventually. “In my line of work, one must be prepared for sacrifices.”  
_

_“I’m glad you didn’t have to die for real in our timeline, wizard”, Tony said, quieter than his usual tone.  
_

_A brief silence. “Wanda saved me in the field”, Natasha whispered. “Along with Okoye. If she stayed up all along…”_

_“We’ll found out soon enough, I guess”, you whispered back._

_“I think it’s better for us if we skip to the battle’s aftermath”, Wong said, and they all agreed._

* * *

Thor still didn’t aim for the head, which still allowed Thanos to escape. This time, however, he didn’t snap. How could he, with two lost Stones and other two destroyed?

He still possessed Space and Power Stones, which cause more than enough damage. After Thanos’ army retreated, shortly after noticing their leader’s own departure, they assessed their losses. Without Wanda, they struggled a lot more to stop the huge wheels, and many died in the process - including Natasha, Okoye, Rocket and M’Baku (who, they later found, was Okoye’s husband).

Steve and Sam had been heavily injured while battling Thanos. Sam couldn’t feel (or move) his left side, and Steve was comatose. Shuri assured them Wakanda had enough resources to treat all injured, but asked to care of their own dead.

“We have two bodies to retrieve in Titan”, Tony told Thor. “One from Earth and one of the Guardians. If you could teleport yourself and one of us to get them…”

“Of course”, he said, voice weak. He clearly was shaken by his ‘failure’ (not that anyone else saw his efforts as such).

The infamous Gamora was found. She had stayed on the borders, and only Nebula saw her before the end of the battle.

“Two humans rescued me in Vormir”, she explained. “I was revived after they returned the Soul Stone. They claimed to be allies from the future, but didn’t give me any further details, or names.”

“Can you describe them?”, Rhodes asked.

“One was a man with white skin, blonde hair, blue eyes. Tall and muscular, a little less than Thor, but enough to draw attention.” Quill snorted at that. “The other was a woman with [your physical description]. They were wearing identical uniforms. It was red and white. They looked like a couple.”

The remaining Avengers exchanged glances. Gamora’s description of the man fit Steve’s, but the woman’s didn’t remind them of anyone they knew. How far from the future those two were?

“Mr. Stark”, Parker spoke up. “Do you think that… the other Thor we saw was from the future too?”

Tony frowned. “It… makes sense, kid. That Thor and those two women took Soul and Reality Stones. Then, not much later, the Soul Stone is delivered back to Vormir by other two people, one of which resembles our Cap.”

“Wait”, Thor said, “what do you mean you saw another _me_?”

Tony, both Peters, Mantis and Nebula told them what happened in Titan. Tony concluded, “It was all extremely confusing, and by the time we went back to our senses, Thanos was back up, angrier than ever. That’s how we lost two of our team.”

Nebula managed to project what they saw for five seconds. The white woman was unknown to them, but Thor recognized the brown-skinned one as Valkyrie. “It matters little, I’m afraid”, he said somberly. “Whoever those people are, whenever they came from, they are unlikely to be helpful. We need to focus on here and now. What _do_ we have, aside from losses?”

“Time and Mind Stones no longer exist”, Wanda said. “I destroyed them.”

“That’s a relief”, T’Challa spoke for the first time. “Even if small. Thanos cannot achieve his goal without all Stones, if I understand it right.”

“You did”, Thor agreed. “We know the Soul Stone is back in Vormir, and according to lady Gamora he has no means to obtain it right now.” He turned to said Gamora and asked, “Did they give you any clues on where the Reality Stone might be?”

She shook her head. “They had no Stones in their possession when I woke up. At least not that I noticed, but Infinity Stones are hard to miss.”

“Well, either they returned it to a ruined Knowhere, or hid it in an even harder place to find”, Quill interjected. “We the Guardians can search for it after we go to Titan. Our ship is still there.”

“I am Groot.”

“I agree with the Tree”, Thor said. “If the Reality Stone is well hidden, it should stay that way. Things might be worse if we go after it.”

“We need to find Thanos”, Tony said. “Kill him if possible, retrieve the other Stones if it isn’t. Remove the threat. And we need to tend to our injured and dead.”

That was something they all agreed on. Shuri excused herself to go to the hospital, to see on the injured, and T’Challa left to prepare a collective funeral for his fallen soldiers. The Avengers and the Guardians left to the open field. “I’ll bring half of you now”, Thor told the remaining Guardians. “I’ll return with the wizard’s body, and then I’ll take the rest. Does anyone else want to take part on our quest to find Thanos?”

“You should come”, Nebula told Tony and Parker. “You were useful for us in Titan.”

“Peter is not going”, Tony answered for the teenager, who didn’t object. “As for me… my suit was greatly damaged in battle. I don’t think I’ll be as useful.”

“I’ll go”, Wanda offered. “You’ll need me to destroy the Stones anyway.”

Vision offered himself as well, which earned a tiny smile from Wanda. Thor raised Stormbreaker, taking Groot, Nebula, Mantis and Vision with him.

Deep down, Tony had hoped Strange would still be alive. When Thor came back with a broken corpse, he closed his eyes, unable to look at it for longer than a second.

* * *

_“Fuck”, you heard Bucky whisper. You snuggled even closer to Steve._

_“I didn’t even get to say goodbye to you”, Clint said, sniffing. You turned to see Natasha holding his shoulder._

_You looked up at your husband. His face was unreadable for most, but you knew how much it pained him to see so many fallen friends. “I hope this version of you will recover”, you whispered._

_He kissed the top of your head. “I hope so too. Even if just to get a chance to meet you.”_

_Turning your head, you could see Parker trying to comfort a teary-eyed Shuri, while Wanda and Vision held hands. Rhodey’s hand was on Sam’s shoulder._

_“I’ll go with another time skip”, you heard Strange say.  
_

* * *

Thanos was found and killed, and the Stones he carried destroyed. Reality Stone was never found, and Soul Stone remained in Vormir, under Red Skull’s watch.

Like in the other timeline, you traveled to Wakanda to study in 2020. What you found there was slightly different, however. “Tell me, Y/N”, Shuri began one day, “how much experience do you have with traumatic memory loss?”

“A little more than most”, you admitted. “I had quite a magnet for this kind of patient last year.”

“Then I suppose we could use your help with a particular case. But I ask your discretion. He’s a… special patient.”

You nodded. “I’ll keep any secrets that won’t go against my profession’s ethical code.”

“I expected nothing less. Follow me.”

Soon you found out why the patient was special: he was _Steve Rogers_ , Captain American himself. You hadn’t heard about him since the Avengers split in 2016.

“There was a battle here in Wakanda, two years ago”, Shuri explained as you made your way to the tiny house he lived in. “Against aliens. We managed to keep it a secret, though it meant the Avengers had to make something up to justify Black Widow’s tragic death. The Falcon has also stayed here, but his injuries have long healed.

“Rogers was knocked hard on the head and only by miracle didn’t die. He woke up four months ago, with few memories of his life, and so far he hasn’t made much progress. I’ve dealt with brainwashing victims before, but this is quite different.”

Captain lived with Wilson and Barnes (you supposed he was the brainwashed person Shuri had dealt with in the past). He had a beard you had never seen on him before (but looked extremely good on him). The princess introduced you two, and she, Barnes and Wilson left you alone to talk.

* * *

_“That’s rough, buddy”, Parker said.  
_

_“Please, no ‘The Last Airbender’ references”, Scott groaned. “Cassie is obsessed enough already with it.”_

_Quiet laughter was heard. “I hope at least this part has a happy ending”, Sam said. “Though I have to say, it must have been weird for Bucky to be the one trying to help Steve get his memories back.”_

_Bucky chuckled. “I’m already used to take care of this punk anyway.”_

_“Jerk”, Steve replied, but you could hear his smile._

* * *

A year went by. Your stay was prolonged first due to the national lockdown in response to covid-19, but then you got quite attached to the friends you have made.

You and Steve had gone past the point of just being doctor and patient, and befriended over the months. Your heart would skip beats every time you met (which was quite often, given you still had sessions with him), but you’d never admit that to anyone in Wakanda, even if Bucky and Sam often teased you two as a couple.

It didn’t help that, when the Guardians of the Galaxy (whose existence was unknown to you until a day before their arrival) paid a visit, Gamora claimed to recognize you immediately. It took an hour for the group to explain the story behind _that_ , but the guys’ teasing only increased after she insisted future you and future Steve resembled a couple from the way they acted around one another. At night, alone, you allowed yourself to imagine that alternate future could repeat itself in your reality.

One day, Tony Stark came, with his wife and his daughter. You had heard about Morgan Stark long before you came to Wakanda. You were in the guys’ apartment when he arrived, and played with Morgan while the adults caught up with one another.

“You seem to be good with kids”, Steve mentioned in passing, voice soft.

You chuckled. “I wasn’t always. Had to learn for the job.”

* * *

_“You did get better with kids after your residency program”, Steve mused. “I remember when we met some mom friends of yours, and you almost killed the babies you tried to hold.”  
_

_“Don’t remind me”, you groaned. “I indeed had to learn for the job. I’ve dealt with kids with ADHD, psychosis and personality disorders, not to mention a five-year-old sociopath. Any other kid after that was a walk in the park.”  
_

_He laughed, along with Bucky and Natasha. “You know what’s also funny?”, he said after the laughter died down. “We weren’t dating yet when we met Gamora.”_

_“It’s not like either of you were good at hiding your feelings for each other”, Carol snorted from behind. The whole crowd laughed, even Strange and Wong._

* * *

Tony had brought old pictures of Steve, Bucky, the Howling Commandos, Howard Stark and Peggy Carter. Your patient and friend (and crush) had regained most memories of the 21st century, but his war times were still lost to him. He vaguely remembered his pre-serum times, thanks to Bucky’s stories, but not much.

He _wanted_ to remember, you knew that, even if his anxiety about it relieved after he got back memories regarding Bucky, Sam and Wakanda. It was heartbreaking to watch him grieve over Natasha two years after her death, but it was necessary step. He’d also been overcome with a desire to make amends with Tony, something the man was happy to provide.

A week after the Stark family left, you two took a walk in the forest. He still couldn’t remember the battle that led to his injury, and he likely never would. It was for the best, you supposed, considering what you’ve heard and read about it.

“I remembered Peggy Carter”, he said suddenly. You stopped on your tracks.

“Really? That’s great, Steve.” Carter had been the love of his life, according to Bucky. Sam attested that he had never loved anyone like he’d loved her, even if he had kissed other women in the 21st century.

“It’s not much. From what Bucky said, I still have a lot to remember. But I remember loving her.” He shook his head. “It’s strange. I can’t bring myself to love her today. Not like Sam claims I still did, even after she died.”

You did your best to give him a gentle look. “It’s okay, Steve, you are a different person now. Agent Carter lived a good life, and you two rekindled before her death. You are allowed to move on.”

He didn’t reply at first, busy looking at the horizon. Then his gaze turned to you. “I know. I remember not being good at moving on from things I’ve lost, but it doesn’t seem so hard now. Maybe this whole amnesia thing was good, after all.”

He bit his lip and looked down briefly. When he looked back at you, his gaze was inexplicably intense. “What I do know, is that those memories of Peggy made me realize that… I’m love with _you_ , Y/N.”

Your eyes widened. “ _Me_?”

He nodded, closing his eyes. “I know I shouldn’t. You’re my doctor, even if we are friends now. But I guess it can’t be helped. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same. I’m thankful for each moment I get to spend with you, and I don’t wish for anything you are not comfortable with. We can pretend I never said anything if you want.”

You _melted_ inside. You knew Steve was the kindest soul you’ve ever met, but hearing those words… You closed the distance between them and kissed him. It took a couple seconds, but soon he circled his arms around your waist and kissed you back.

You only broke your kiss when your need for oxygen was greater than your need for his lips. His voice was hoarse when he said, “I’m… glad.”

You chuckled as your foreheads touched. “So am I”, you whispered. “But we _do_ have to find you another psychiatrist now.”

He chuckled and kissed you again.


	15. Rewriting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In an alternate timeline, Steve goes out of the ice in 1945. This changes the world's history, but does it change yours?

_1945_

Peggy was, naturally, in denial. It took a lot of time to convince her of his identity, and even then she was only fully convinced when she kissed him. “You kiss the same”, she whispered, pulling away after brief seconds (enough time for him to cup her face).

He had wanted to keep his return a secret at first, but he failed to account for Howard Stark. Soon Captain America was all over the news as ‘coming back from the dead’. Journalists gathered around him to get interviews, and for months he didn’t have a single moment of peace.

It didn’t matter much, not as he and Peggy danced to a newly released song, kissing every time the lyrics told them to.

> _“Kiss me once, and kiss me twice, and kiss me once again,  
>  It’s been a long, long time…”_

* * *

_1947_

He and Peggy got married with only Howard, Jarvis and their wives as witnesses. On their honeymoon, he told her all about alternate Steve and showed the small notebook he gave him.

“Sergeant Barnes _alive_?”, she nearly gasped.

“Kept prisoner by HYDRA, according to this”, he said. “Had been injected by a prototype serum when I rescued him, which enabled him to survive his fall. Makes sense in retrospect.”

She bit her lip. “I guess it’s worth a look, though we can’t do anything useful before we go back to Washington.”

They didn’t wait long after that. Sgt. Barnes was successfully rescued four months later, along with other prisoners. “I’m offended I didn’t get to be your best man, punk”, was the first full sentenced Bucky said after stepping foot on American soil. Steve laughed, and Peggy grinned.

“I hope being our child’s godfather can compensate for it”, she said, placing her hands on her belly. Steve’s attention was suddenly all on her as he hugged her tightly.

Bucky joined SHIELD soon after Howard made him a new arm. “Way prettier than the one HYDRA gave me. More functional too.”

“Of course”, Howard boasted. “Don’t compare me to that shitty corporation.”

Bucky was also very vocal about not letting Zola inside SHIELD, which reminded Steve of another thing written in The Notebook. He would _not_ tell Howard about his alternate self - he didn’t trust the man to keep his mouth shut - but he was able to reason with him.

“Zola belongs either in jail or in a grave”, Peggy spat. Pregnancy made her more prone to anger. The scientist was found dead not much after, and no one ever found out how he died (not that anyone bothered that much).

* * *

_1970_

Bucky got married in 1950 to Angie Martinelli, Peggy’s friend who was Sarah Rogers’ godmother along with him. Their first children (a couple of twins, Peter and Lyra) came to world two years later, a week before Steve and Peggy’s first son, Christopher.

Peggy was still director of SHIELD, Steve slowly fading to the background as its agent. Not that he minded, even though Peggy insisted on his importance as Captain America. “You are a symbol, Steve”, she’d say.

“Captain America is a title”, he’d reply. “It can belong to someone else.”

However, he was only able to pass his mantle when Sarah turned 20 and completed her training. All his four children (Sarah, Chris, Emily and Paul) were born with his serum on their veins, enabling them to follow their father’s steps if they wanted.

Sarah was the only one who did, much to Steve’s relief; he wasn’t looking forward to a family of spies. She officially took the title of Captain America on the week that marked Tony Stark’s birth.

It was another point of his and Peggy’s talks. The Notebook had notes on Howard’s only son; how he had not received enough love from his father, and only relied on his mother (and sometimes his family butler) for support. “If we got named as his godparents, we’ll have a perfect excuse to be in his life”, he told her, and she agreed.

It was a little odd, the time it took for Howard and Maria to have a child. By the time Tony was born, the only reason they weren’t grandparents yet was the fact that Sarah didn’t want to get married.

Meanwhile, Christopher and Emily were engaged to each of Bucky’s twins. “Reminds me of when the entire 107th though you and I were fucking”, his best friend said, laughing like it was the best joke he had ever heard.

Peggy didn’t help any. “You mean that you were ‘fondueing’?”, she asked while taking a sip of tea, like the British woman she was. Steve just groaned.

* * *

_1976_

Peggy’s sister-in-law (who was ten years younger than her husband) gave birth to her youngest child on the same month she and Steve became grandparents. Sharon Carter was mentioned in The Notebook, but in passing; he missed it on his first reading.

“Agent 13″, he read aloud to Peggy. She already had a few white hair locks, and the difference between their aging speed was visible (though he was sure he saw a white strand on the previous week). “I suppose this means she worked for SHIELD in the other timeline.”

“It might not be the case now”, his wife replied softly. “This is Sharon who had another uncle. She probably saw you looking less than 30.” A chuckle. “Who knows, this other Steve might have even dated her.”

“Absolutely not, she’s my niece.”

“She isn’t the other Steve’s.”

A loud groan was heard. “I really don’t want to imagine it, Peggy. We’re talking about a _baby_. A baby who’s our grandson’s age.”

* * *

_The amount of teasing Steve endured at that very moment could not be properly translated into words. You were no help, busy as you were laughing._

_“Aw, I wish she was here to watch this”, Sam said. “Why didn’t you invite her, Scott?”  
_

_“I… don’t know her?”  
_

_“Where is she, by the way?”, Natasha wondered. You glanced at Steve, who huffed.  
_

_“I kiss her one time, and now I’m supposed to know all her whereabouts?” When you didn’t answer, just kept staring, he sighed. “I’ve heard she moved to California.”  
_

_“See? That wasn’t so hard.”  
_

_“I clearly have a type: women who can kick my ass and laugh at my expense.”  
_

_“I can’t kick your ass, not without Mjölnir, or Stormbreaker.”  
_

_“The mere fact that you can wield them already enables you to kick my ass.”  
_

_“Stop arguing before it gets kinky!”, Tony shouted. You two laughed.  
_

* * *

_1991_

Taking down KGB was not an easy task. Without HYDRA, the Soviets invested more on their national espionage division.

However, it got easier with the fall of Soviet Union. Following her father’s instructions, Sarah rescued many little girls training to be spies. One of them was to be brought to US, if she consented to it.

Natalia Romanova, a 7-year-old girl with dreams of becoming a ballerina, is adopted by the Starks. Tony, a 21-year-old adult, happily welcomes his little sister into the family.

“There’s someone else for us to look after”, he mentioned to Peggy. His hair was fully white now, and his ‘Adonis muscles’ had started to fade off, but he was still more energetic than most 73-year olds.

“There are many names, actually”, Peggy replied. She had just retired from SHIELD, after turning 70. She wasn’t as ‘preserved’ as her husband, but still looked younger than her age. “We only crossed Bucky’s, Tony’s and Natasha’s. There is still a lot of work to do if we are going to follow your notebook, and so far it seems to be the right thing to do.”

However, right after they took Clint Barton from the circus and had Emily adopt him too, they took a pause to mourn their youngest son.

In 1979, Paul told his parents he was gay. Although surprised, they simply told him that they’d always love and support him. He and Sarah moved out of their parents’ home and lived together, since neither of them would marry. In 1990, however, he was diagnosed with AIDS after he started coughing blood. It left the whole family terrified; Paul himself had been telling them about his other gay/bi friends who had been taken away due to that horrible disease.

Two years later, he died at home, holding his sister’s hand and gasping for breath.

* * *

_Was it okay to cry for a son you never had? Because tears were falling down Steve’s cheeks for Paul. You kissed his cheek and embraced him tighter, but didn’t say a word. You tried to imagine yourself in Peggy’s place. Steve might have already been prepared for the possibility of outliving his offspring; after all, no one knew how long he’d live with the serum in his blood. But Peggy was like you, a normal human. At the age of 70 especially, she would never think she’d outlive one of her children, let alone her youngest._

_You had studied a bit about the AIDS pandemic at college, but no reading would do justice to the pain you could see in the faces of those alternate versions of your friends and their beloved ones._

* * *

_1995_

By the time Carol Danvers showed on SHIELD’s radar, Sarah Rogers had already passed the Captain America mantle to her 15-year-old nephew John. “It’ll be temporary”, he warned, “until any of my siblings or cousins is ready to take it.”

Still, he was there to watch over Carol and rescue her from the Kree who tried to kidnap her. He took her to her best friend, and he could swear he saw his deceased uncle when Danvers and Rambeau smiled and embraced each other.

Ten years later, he’d pass the mantle to his young brother James as he and Monica Rambeau had their first child.

* * *

_2008_

Tony was still kidnapped in Afghanistan and still became Iron Man, his parents long gone (Howard had a heart attack in 1993 and Maria had a stroke in 1998). Looking back, he blamed himself for not listening to Aunt Peggy and Uncle Steve; they had always told him to shut down the weapons department of Stark Industries (but how could he? He had a duty to SHIELD).

This time, however, he had more than just Pepper, Rhodey and Happy for support. Natasha soon realized Obadiah Stane’s true intentions and unmasked him before he could do any real damage. Tony’s little sister got an iron suit of her own in her 24th birthday. 

Clint and Natasha still joined SHIELD, but with no red on their ledger to wipe out. Hank Pym still recruited Scott Lang, but years in advance, thanks to a ‘casual tip’ Peggy Carter gave him (he never left SHIELD or Stark Industries in this one). His daughter would eventually get a suit of her own, though hers would take more time.

Sam was recruited to SHIELD too, shortly after losing Riley. His new job gave him a purpose, and he was happy.

Banner never turned into the Hulk, not when he had Steve to talk him out of replicate his serum. “This is no blessing”, he told him. “Just look at mine and Bucky’s kids. Why do you think they married within our inner circle? Why do you think John married a woman who lived with a super-powered step-mom? None of us really fit in, we’re outsiders. You don’t want that.”

So, when Loki arrived with the Chitauri army, a slightly different team defeated him. James Rogers was barely 18, too young to lead, but Tony had grown up with Steve as his godfather and Sarah as his ‘cousin’ and knew how to do it. Iron Man, Iron Scarlet (there was no Black Widow alias for Natasha to adopt), Captain America (fourth of his name, as people called him), Hawkeye, Thor, Captain Marvel and Ant-Man teamed up rather easily. (A couple years later, War Machine, Falcon and the Wasp would join the team.)

With no HYDRA, there is no Scarlet Witch, no Quicksilver. Tony is a different man here, not blinded by trauma and fear, and there is no Ultron either. T’Chaka is never killed, but this time, Wakanda is visited by the Avengers and the three former Captain Americas. Their borders are opened without a civil war, and eventually Shuri is the one added to the Avengers line-up (not in a Black Panther suit, of course; it’d be disrespectful).

Peggy passes away in her sleep in 2016. Steve is still strong enough to carry her coffin, with Bucky by his side and their sons behind them. “Did that notebook tell you that?”, his best friend asked after they left the cemetery.

“No. The notes end on ‘Thanos’ and ‘Infinity Stones’. I’m not sure what any of these mean.”

“You should pass it on to the Avengers. It’s past our time to help, punk.”

It was true. Both of them lost most of their built-up appearance, and truly looked like old men. Their third great-grandkid had just been born, and now both were widowers (Angie had died a year before Peggy, in a hospital, after fracturing her left femur). A week later, they moved to an apartment Tony bought for them, near the Avengers Tower. Steve gave the Notebook to James and retired for good.

* * *

_2018_

In the end, no warning prepared them for the Decimation. In their defense, Thanos didn’t really invade Earth this time. Ebony Maw showed up to get the Time Stone and, like in the original timeline, the battle was taken to space.

The heartbreak over losing so many of his family, so suddenly, not to mention his best friend, was too much for Steve. A huge service was made for the first Captain America, and small, intimate funeral was made for the man under the helmet and uniform.

Some things don’t change, though. Three years later, you still show up at the Avengers compound with an idea to reverse things. Time travel was still figured out, and they brought everyone back without any major casualties. You still fell in love with Captain America, and he with you. It was just a different person wearing the mantle.

Bucky died less than a year later. His last words were “till the end of the line, pal”.

* * *

_It was odd to see a timeline where you never met Steve. “Honestly, it was better this way”, he commented when you pointed that out. “I really don’t want to see if we’re meant to be when I’m over 100 years old. I’ll gladly let this version of you be with my grandson instead.”_

_“He looks better than you, punk”, Bucky added. “Must be the addition of Peggy’s genes and mine.”  
_

_“Your alternate wife also helped”, Natasha agreed.  
_

_They laughed. “That was the last one”, Strange said after they stopped laughing. “I’m not doing this again.”_

_You smiled anyway. “Thank you, Strange. It was fun to watch, especially among friends.”_

_He nodded and gave you a tiny smile in return._


	16. Surprise!

It was late night when their ‘movie marathon’ ended, so Tony let some people sleep at the compound. You and Steve were among those who accepted his offer, and even managed to stay in his old room. “Many good memories here”, you said as he closed the door.

He smiled. “Yeah. It was here that I realized I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.”

You frowned, trying to remember a moment you came to his room after you started dating. When you failed, your eyes widened. He grinned, already noticing your thought process. Still, you had to voice your question. “You’re talking about when we slept here after the mission?”

Grinning still, he circled his arms around you and kissed your hair. “Exactly. It had been my best night of sleep in years, and I could barely stop looking at you when I woke up. I was even a little disappointed you were no longer in my arms.”

Three years of relationship did _not_ prepare you for that declaration. “Always intense, huh”, you replied, unable to say anything else.

“I’ve always been dramatic, according to Bucky, but yeah. With you, it's always been intense. And fast.”

You chuckled, head rested on his chest. “Well, it’s not like I’ve been any better.”

Then you yawned. Steve broke the hug and guided you to bed. Having ‘traveled’ through Wong’s sling ring, neither of you had brought sleep clothes. Upon laying down, you rested your head on his chest again. He rested his own head on top of yours.

“I love you”, you whispered. “Watching those timelines, seeing us getting together every time… It was comforting, to know we’ve always found each other.” You purposefully left out the last timeline you watched, since it was an obvious exception. “I feel blessed to have someone so wonderful in my life as you, Steve. Thank you for always being there for me. For existing.”

You could hear his soft smile as he replied, “I should thank _you_ , love. I know it’s not easy to be with someone who carries a symbol on his shoulders and a target on his back, but you've never hesitated when it came to me. And you’ve always _seen me_ , my virtues and flaws, everything my title overshadows. And, quoting my other self, I cherish every moment I get to spend with you, even those I only watched instead of living. I love you so much.”

You kissed him for a couple of seconds and whispered good night. You fell in a sleep full of dreams of past, present, future and alternatives.

In the morning, you woke up before him. It was standard behavior at this point, since your bladder had a natural alarm that would wake you around 6 AM to pee, and you rarely managed to fall back asleep after that. Not wanting to wake Steve up, you fixed your clothes and quietly left the room for breakfast. Outside, Wanda was fixing her purse. “Going out so early?”, you asked.

“I forgot to buy tampons before it was too late”, she replied, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Oh my God”, you exclaimed. “Would you rather have me going instead? Tell me the size you want. You can stay in your bedroom, just leave the door open.”

“Oh, Y/N, that would be _wonderful_ , thank you so much!” She then handed her money and told you what kind of tampons she wanted.

On your way to the drug store, you remembered the few times you had gone through Wanda’s situation. One time was at work, and another… oh my, on your _honeymoon_. Poor Steve...

You stopped walking abruptly when a sudden thought overcame you. When was the last time you needed tampons? A simple calculation gave you the answer: nearly two months.

Then, not caring about how crazy you must have been looking to strangers, you started walking again, faster each step. You arrived at the drug store breathless, and added two pregnancy tests to the tampons. _I’ll pay you back later, Wanda_. Fortunately, the money she handed you was enough.

You made a quick stop at Wanda’s room, barely hearing her ‘thanks’ before practically running to Steve’s. He had seemingly just waken up, as he was rubbing his eyes. “Steve”, you greeted, huffing. “I… I’m late in my period.” You raised the bag with the tests. “I’m going to check right now if I’m pregnant.”

He was wide awake from that moment on. “Haven’t you already gone to the bathroom?” You nodded. “Let me grab you some water. That way you’ll be able to pee again faster.”

It took you roughly thirty minutes, but finally you had the urge to pee back. You left the bathroom door open, even if Steve stayed behind, sat down on bed. Two minutes later, you had your answer. You went back to the bedroom.

“So?”, Steve asked.

“I’m pregnant”, you said, barely above a whisper.

He smiled wide and picked you up, spinning you around, much like the day you said ‘yes’ to his proposal. “We’re going to be parents!”, he exclaimed joyfully.

Even though you barely had time to process the news, his excitement made you smile just as wide. As he put you down, you kissed him, pulling all your love and happiness in that kiss. “Good thing we already have strong name suggestions”, you said finally. He laughed and nodded in agreement as he kissed you again.

After pulling away, he asked, “Should we tell the others?”

“Of course. They are our friends.”

Smiling still, he walked to the door, opened it and shouted, like he was _Tony_ and not Steve, “Hey guys! We’re gonna have another baby shower soon!” Then, a little quieter, “FRIDAY, reproduce what I just said in every room.”

“ _Steve_! You’re going to wake everyone up!”

“Yes. FRIDAY, please do it.”

“Right away, Cap”, the AI answered.

Minutes later, half of the compound was complaining about having being waken up by Steve’s loud voice in their ears, but everyone was happy about the news. Bucky, Natasha, Sam and Carol were already competing over the right of being your child’s godparents. Laughing, you stepped closer to your husband, who immediately side-hugged you.

“Funny thing, we already know your kid is going to be super-powered”, Tony teased. “Do you want it to be a Sarah or a Chris?”

“I'm fine with either”, you replied. “Who knows, maybe it’s both.”

“Can we just not name them Paul if it’s a boy?”, Steve asked. “I know we’re not in the 80s anymore, but I feel like it’s bad luck.”

“Me too, love”, you replied. “We can steal Bucky’s kids’ names instead.”

“How _many_ kids are you planning on?”, Scott asked, rubbing Hope’s belly.

“Well”, you said, “I don’t know about Steve, but _this_ is the one competition I’d like to have with alternate Peggy.”

Tony whistled, and everyone laughed. Steve tightened his hug and whispered in your ear, “As many as you want, love.”

“Even if it’s fourteen?”

“Even if it’s _thirty_ , as long as you can take it.”

You laughed quietly and kissed him.


End file.
